Occurrence Of Acrylamide Research Articles

Occurrence of acrylamide, hydroxymethylfurfural and furaldehyde as process contaminants in traditional breakfast cereals: “Bsissa”

Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), furaldehyde (FAL) and acrylamide (AA) are produced during the food roasting process. The content of these toxic products in a common ready-to-eat breakfast, known as “Bsissa”, was investigated. This North African traditional food is mainly based on roasted cereals, leguminous and spices. In the present study, thirty-four commercial “Bsissa” have been investigated for their toxic HMF, FAL and AA content using RP-HPLC-DAD. Additionally, to distinguish the main way of the production of these toxic products (Maillard reaction or caramelization origin), total protein, carbohydrates and reducing sugar were quantified and found in the range 5.63–25.72 g, 45.75–84.33 g and 0.37–3.74 g per 100 g of Bsissa, respectively. This result makes it also suitable to cover daily needs as a breakfast food. Obtained results showed that HMF and FAL were detected in most samples, with values not exceeding 24.71 mg/100 g and to 3.91 mg/100 g, respectively. AA was not detected in all the studied samples. Principal components (PC) and hierarchical classification were employed to establish the samples’ heat damage based on relations between variables. Two PCs were obtained which explain more than 75% of the total variance, thus grouping the Bsissa in two clusters based on the main used cereal. This analysis may help in the mitigation step of furanic compounds by choosing the appropriate Bsissa ingredients.

Occurrence of acrylamide in selected food products.

Acrylamide is a toxic compound found in occupational and non-occupational environment. It originates from industrial use, technological processes in construction as well as food production, water purification, and laboratory use. Adverse effects including neurotoxicity, probably carcinogenicity, genotoxicity, teratogenicity, and reproductive toxicity were reported in many studies. Our study is focused on acrylamide content in selected food products in the Czech Republic. In this study, we determined acrylamide content in selected samples of commonly consumed food products (potato chips, biscuits, popcorn, corn flakes, breakfast cereals, and baked muesli). The concentration of acrylamide in most samples of potato chips, biscuits and popcorn exceeded the benchmark limits. The acrylamide content in samples of potato chips from one manufacturer in 4 cases out of 5 analysed samples exceeded benchmark limit. On the other hand, no corn flakes sample acrylamide content from the same manufacture exceeded the benchmark limit. With 20 of all analysed samples exceeding the benchmark levels for acrylamide, it can be concluded that 47.6% of samples did not comply with the benchmark level. Dietary intake of frequently consumed food products with the acrylamide content exceeding the recommended comparative value could have adverse effects on the human health. Our study confirmed high amount of acrylamide in some selected food samples. The reduction of dietary burden with acrylamide is possible by complying with the correct technological principles in food preparation.

A Review of Acrylamide Concentrations in Different Food Products; Associated Risks and Mitigation Strategies

Acrylamide is a colorless, crystalline solid, soluble in water with Low but significant volatility having a molecular weight of 71.08 g/mol. It is known to be neurotoxic in both animals and humans, and has been classified as “probably carcinogenic to humans. The occurrence of acrylamide is first reported by scientists from the Swedish National Food Authority and the University of Stockholm in April 2002, and then after many scientists have done different research on the occurrence of acrylamide in different processed foods. Different researches indicated that most heat processed foods are an important source of acrylamide. Acrylamide is formed in a wide variety of foods, particularly carbohydrate rich foods cooked at above 120°C upon frying, baking and roasting. Although high temperature food processing such as frying, roasting, or baking, is most likely to cause acrylamide formation; boiling and steaming do not normally form acrylamide. According to the recent available research results on acrylamide content of foods the highest levels of acrylamide is reported in coffee substitutes and fried potato products with max 5400µg/kg and 4126.26µg/kg respectively. High temperature and longtime processing has direct influence on acrylamide formation in processed foods. Animal studies revealed that acrylamide adversely affects fertility, and has the potential to induce heritable damage at gene and chromosome level. A better understanding about acrylamide impacts on human health can guide to the development of enhanced food processes to reduce the acrylamide content of the diet. Efforts to decrease the creation of acrylamide in different foods have resulted in some achievements; however there is no universal approach that works for all foods. Though it may possible in some foods to reduce acrlymide, in some foods is maybe not possible. This paper is therefore aimed to review the concentration of acrylamide in different processed food products, associated risks of their consumption and mitigation strategies.

Occurrence of Acrylamide in Italian Baked Products and Dietary Exposure Assessment.

Acrylamide (AA) is a neo-formed toxic compound that develops in foods during cooking at temperatures above 120 °C. AA shows in vivo neurotoxic and carcinogenic effects, and it is potentially carcinogenic for humans. Its occurrence is common in baked food, such as bread and similar products. This study set out to analyze bread and sweets from the Italian market to evaluate the effects of the benchmark thresholds set by EU Regulation 2017/2158 and to ascertain the exposure of the Italian population to AA, across three age groups, through the consumption of baked products, according to the margin of exposure (MOE) approach. Two hundred samples were tested, and the content of AA ranged from 31 to 454 µg/kg for bread and products thereof and from 204 to 400 µg/kg for the sweets category. The exposure data did not show any neurotoxic health concern, whereas the MOE related to the carcinogenic endpoint is well below the minimum safety value of 10,000.

A Review on Acrylamide in Food: Occurrence, Toxicity, and Mitigation Strategies.

Acrylamide (AA) is a food contaminant present in a wide range of frequently consumed foods, which makes human exposure to this toxicant unfortunately unavoidable. However, efforts to reduce the formation of AA in food have resulted in some success. This review aims to summarize the occurrence of AA and the potential mitigation strategies of its formation in foods. Formation of AA in foods is mainly linked to Maillard reaction, which is the first feasible route that can be manipulated to reduce AA formation. Furthermore, manipulating processing conditions such as time and temperature of the heating process, and including certain preheating treatments such as soaking and blanching, can further reduce AA formation. Due to the high exposure to AA, recognition of its toxic effect is necessary, especially in developing countries where awareness about AA health risks is still very low. Therefore, this review also focuses on the different toxic effects of AA exposure, including neurotoxicity, genotoxicity, carcinogenicity, reproductive toxicity, hepatotoxicity, and immunotoxicity.

Determination of Acrylamide in Aquatic Environmental Samples by GC/MS

Objectives This study was conducted to improve the analysis method used for acrylamide (AA) and to investigate the occurrence of AA in influent and effluent from sewage treatment plants in Korea. A liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) is commonly used for AA analysis of complex samples because it is fast, simple and effective. However, the disadvantages of LC–MS/MS include its relatively high operational cost, low sample throughput, and low sensitivity. Therefore, this study was conducted to develop a novel analytical method for the determination of AA in complex environmental waters using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) combined with the derivatization with bromine following solid-phase extraction (SPE). Methods This work describes the development of a novel SPE and GC/MS method for the analysis of AA in complex environmental waters. SPE parameters such as absorbent type, desorption solvent and volume were optimized by conducting a series of experiments. The best SPE cartridge was selected by conducting the recovery test with four different absorbents cartridge (SupelcleanTM Coconut Charcoal cartridge, SupelcleanTM ENVITM–Carb Tubes, Cleanert ODS C18 and Oasis HLB Cartridges). The brominated derivative, 2,3-dibromopropionamide (2,3-DBPA), was extracted with ethyl acetate (EA) and analyzed by GC/MS in selected ion monitoring (SIM), employing d3-acrylamide (d3-AA) as internal standard prior to extraction. Method validation was performed in terms of linearity of standard calibration curve, method detection limit (MDL), limit of quantification (LOQ), accuracy and precision of reaction product 2,3-DBPA. Results and Discussion Based on the SPE experimental results, the active carbon SPE was selected as it gave the best adsorption efficiency (98.8%). The effects of pH and optimum bromine reaction time were found to be important determining factors for acrylamide analysis in water. The experimental results showed that the optimal reaction conditions of pH were 1.5 and 3 h, respectively. The validation process consisted of assessing the following parameters: linearity of standard calibration curve, method detection limit (MDL), limit of quantification (LOQ), precision and accuracy. The coefficients of determination (R2) in laboratory conditions were: R2=0.9981 (2.5~100 µg/L). MDL and LOQ of acrylamide were 1.19 µg/L and 3.79 µg/L, respectively. The recovery studies were carried out at two different concentration levels (10 µg/L and 50 µg/L, n=3). The intraday accuracy and precision were in the range of 100.6~102.0% and 3.2~3.5%, respectively, and the interday accuracy and precision were in the range of 96.0~97.4% and 4.3~8.0%, respectively. The AA contents in effluents of sewage treatment plants were in the range of 0.008~0.017 µg/L for May, 0.009~0.14 µg/L for June and not detected (N.D.)~0.02 µg/L for July samples. Conclusions An efficient analytical method for the determination of AA has been developed. Activated carbon SPE cartridge (SupelcleanTM Coconut Charcoal) was selected for the sample purification. The validation study showed that this method was a reliable method with high sensitivity, linearity, precision, and accuracy. The interday accuracy and precision were in the range of 96.0~97.4% and 4.3~8.0%, respectively. This method was successfully applied to the determination of AA in effluent waters of sewage treatment plants. The AA contents in effluents of sewage treatment plants were in the range of 0.008~0.017 µg/L for May, 0.009~0.14 µg/L for June and not detected (N.D.)~0.02 µg/L for July samples. Key words: Acrylamide, Bromination, GC/MS, SPE

Occurrence of acrylamide and other heat-induced compounds in panela: Relationship with physicochemical and antioxidant parameters

Panela is a natural, unrefined non-centrifugal sugar obtained by intense dehydration of sugarcane juice. Acrylamide, hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), and furfural were determined in 40 panela samples distributed as granulated and block according to the technological process. Colour, browning, moisture, water activity, pH and antioxidant capacity were also evaluated. Acrylamide ranged between 60 and 3058 µg/kg; granulated panela reporting the highest concentration (812 µg/kg) compared with block panela (540 µg/kg). The lower content in HMF and furfural, the intense dehydration, and the extensive darkening of granulated panela suggested the browning reactions were boosted due to the application of more severe thermal treatments. Principal component analysis showed a significant relationship between the panela presentation and the concentration of the analysed compounds. Benchmark values considering both types of processes would help to establish mitigation initiatives in panela products. The chromatic parameter a* could be used as an indirect index of the acrylamide content in panela.

Change in chemical composition during maturation ofArtocarpus heterophyllusand its effect on acrylamide formation in deep‐fried jackfruit chips

The changes in chemical composition of jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) during different stages of maturation (stage I–stage IV) were investigated. Further, deep-fried jackfruit chips, a very popular snack of Asian countries, was prepared and the occurrence of acrylamide in the chips was estimated and correlated with the composition. Total carotenoids increased during maturation, while ascorbic acid was found to decrease. The sugars—glucose, fructose, and sucrose—increased during maturation. Major amino acids in jackfruit were leucine, isoleucine, asparagine, and threonine followed by valine, serine, phenylalanine, lysine, and glutamine. The total phenolic and flavonoid content decreased during ripening. Chlorogenic acid was the major phenolic compound. It was observed that the acrylamide content in jackfruit chips increased with maturity. The sugars demonstrated a positive correlation with acrylamide formation, whereas phenolic compounds exhibited a negative correlation. Based on the acrylamide content, stage I is recommended for the preparation of jackfruit chips. Practical applications Acrylamide is a process induced toxicants in foods and development of mitigation strategies are very important to minimize the exposure to the population. The present study investigated the effect of chemical changes during the ripening of jackfruit on acrylamide formation in deep fried chips made from jackfruit. It was observed from the study that the maturity of jackfruit had an impact on the concentrations of precursors, influencing acrylamide formation in deep-fried chips. Thus, the proper selection of the maturity stage of raw jackfruit is very important in mitigation of acrylamide formation in jackfruit chips. We feel that the study is very important as variety of deep-fried snack products are popular in Africa and Asian countries and no such studies on the acrylamide content in these products reported earlier.

Reassessment of acrylamide content in breakfast cereals. Evolution of the Spanish market from 2006 to 2018

Breakfast cereals are important contributors to acrylamide daily exposure in Western countries. Acrylamide was determined by LC-ESI-MS/MS in 60 commercial breakfast cereals marketed in Spain. The influence of the predominant cereal, protein, fibre and sugar content, as well as the presence of honey and the manufacturing process on the acrylamide levels was evaluated. The mean acrylamide content was 118 μg/kg (from <20 to 639 μg/kg). The group of breakfast cereals formulated with kamut, spelt, and wheat reported the higher levels (639, 201 and 197 μg/kg, respectively). The type of processing significantly affected the occurrence of acrylamide, being higher in puffed cereals (167 μg/kg) than in flaked ones (79 μg/kg). The majority (85%) samples were below the benchmark level established by the EU Regulation 2017/2158. Acrylamide occurrence in breakfast cereals marketed in Spain has greatly decreased since 2006 (60%), leading to a reduction of the contribution of breakfast cereals to the overall exposure to the population from 1.02 μg/day to 0.54 μg/day. Despite this progress, more efforts are needed to continue the acrylamide mitigation until levels as low as reasonably possible since no tolerable intake could be established for a carcinogenic and genotoxic compound.

Effect of Microwave Frying on Acrylamide Formation in Potato Chips

The occurrence of acrylamide, a probable carcinogen and a neurotoxin, is currently a global issue. Therefore, the main objective of the present study was to determine the effects of microwave frying on acrylamide formation in potato chips. A simple method using high-performance liquid chromatography has been applied for determination of acrylamide in microwave-fried potato chips. The results showed that microwave frying could form more acrylamide at high microwave power level 800 W compared with low microwave power level 200 W. The highest level was 13230 ppb at 800 W for 120 s. Moreover, the acrylamide content was higher than the levels people might be exposed to in foods 1000 ppb. As a result of this study, it was concluded that microwave frying at high thermal process 180°C, 800 W, 120 s could form high level of acrylamide.

Acrylamide occurrence in Keribo: Ethiopian traditional fermented beverage

Keribo is one of the most commonly used traditional beverages in both rural and urban areas of Ethiopia. However, the occurrence of some harmful compounds which could potentially be formed due to its processing methods has never been investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of acrylamide in Keribo and its association with processing conditions. Malted and unmalted barley roasted at three levels and also similar levels of sugar concentration were used in Keribo preparation. The barley flour to water ratio used during preparation was 1 kg: 10 L. A total of 18 Keribo samples were analyzed for their acrylamide contents using high performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector (HPLC-DAD). QuEChERS sample preparation procedure was used. In this study, there was a statistically significant variation (P < 0.05) in the acrylamide content of Keribo between malted and unmalted barely. The variation in acrylamide content between different levels of roasting and sugar concentrations was also statistically significant (P < 0.05). Statistically significant difference (P < 0.05) was observed for the three way interaction of malting, roasting and sugar level. The highest concentration of acrylamide (3440 μg/kg) was recorded from Keribo prepared from deep roasted unmalted barley with higher sugar concentration. The lowest concentration (1320 μg/kg) was obtained for light roasted unmalted barley with medium sugar concentration. It can be concluded that level of roasting has high implication on acrylamide concentration. Malted barley had a lower concentration of acrylamide and this warrants malting and light roasting of barely are crucially important to minimize the level of acrylamide concentration and reduce the potential health impacts.

Survey on acrylamide in roasted coffee and barley and in potato crisps sold in Italy by a LC–MS/MS method

ABSTRACTA survey on the occurrence of acrylamide (AA) in roasted coffee, barley, and potato crisps was carried out using an intra-lab validated liquid chromatography (LC)–MS (mass spectrometry)/MS method. Over the years 2015–2016, 66 samples of coffee, 22 of roasted barley, and 22 of potato crisps were collected from retail outlets in Italy. AA was detected in almost all samples. In roasted coffee, the level exceeded 450 µg kg−1, the limit recommended by the European Commission (EC), in 36.4% of the samples. In roasted barley, mean contamination was slightly lower than in coffee and no sample exceeded the EC limit of 2000 µg kg−1. The AA contamination in potato crisps was remarkable. A percentage of 36.4 (n = 8) showed a value higher than the EC limit of 1000 µg kg−1. Considering the average consumption of coffee and potato crisps by Italian people, AA exposure is significant and should be decreased.

Occurrence of Acrylamide in breakfast cereals and biscuits available in Italy.

Acrylamide, produced during thermal processing of carbohydrate-rich foods, is classified as "probably carcinogenic to humans" by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The aim of this study was to determine acrylamide levels in biscuits and breakfast cereals considering the widespread use of these products for all ages. Acrylamide determination was carried out in 56 samples by HPLC-UV technique. The results showed a considerable variability in the contents of acrylamide in the samples analysed, most likely due to differences in industrial processing and ingredients. The percentages of contaminated samples tested were very high (95.5% of the biscuits and 75% of the breakfast cereals) with a wide range of contamination: from 30 μg/kg to 940 μg/kg. Our results showed that 22.7% of biscuits and 33% of breakfast cereals exceeded the indicative values recommended by EC 2013/647 set at 500 μg/kg and 200-400 μg/kg (according to the composition) respectively. Our findings suggest concern about the risk for human health.

Deep‐fat frying – An ancient popular process with a lot of open questions

In 2013 the 7th International Symposium on Deep-Fat Frying took place in San Francisco. During this three-day symposium organized by the European Federation for the Science and Technology of Lipids (Euro Fed Lipid), the newest aspects on deep-fat frying were presented and discussed by more than 90 participants 1. Although deep-fat frying is a well-known and old cooking process dating back to 1600 BC, the symposium showed that still a lot of questions are open and under discussion. One reason for this is that deep-fat frying is a very dynamic process where food is immersed into hot oil resulting in drying and cooking of the food as well as deterioration of the oil with processing time. The complex processes taking place at the surface of the food but also in the oil are still not understood comprehensively. On the other side, since a remarkable part of oil is taken up by food the focus of interest is also on aspects important for maintaining the oil quality. As with the past international symposia on deep-fat frying several recommendations have been given by the participants to improve science and technology of frying as well as safety and quality of the products. The main aspects of these recommendations are risk-based research and analysis of data to identify potentially hazardous oil degradation products, development of more reliable quick tests, clear definition of specifications for frying oils, definition of a baseline for the frying operations as well as research on potential microbiological risks inherent to coated products. The participants of the 7th symposium on deep-fat frying confirmed the recommendations made in 2000 that total polar materials and polymeric triacylglycerols are the best parameters for assessing quality of used frying oil. Additionally, it was stated that peroxide value, anisidine value, and content of free fatty acids should not be used as regulatory indices to monitor and to compare the degree of degradation of frying oils. In practice, these parameters are often still in use although their degree of correlation with oil quality is weak. Also the occurrence of acrylamide in fried food based on asparagine and reducing sugars is still an issue. In 2002 the first announcement on acrylamide in fried food was a shock for the industry 2. Since this time a lot of efforts have been undertaken to minimize the formation of acrylamide while maintaining product quality. Several approaches have been found. This special issue on deep-fat frying takes the most important presentations from the 7th symposium on deep-fat frying, but also includes new aspects in seven Reviews and five Research articles. What are the degradation products of fatty acids during frying and what is their importance for health 3? How do frying conditions influence the oil uptake of food being fried 4, 5? What parameters are relevant for controlling quality of used frying oil 6? Another point coming more and more into the focus of interest is the replacement of synthetic antioxidants by antioxidants from natural sources. Consumers refuse synthetic antioxidants, therefore the search for new and applicable sources is an ongoing story. The most important sources of natural antioxidants are described in a review 7, while another paper discusses the use of antioxidants from herbs for stabilization of rapeseed oil 8. All these points cover the wide area of aspects necessary to understand the frying process better, to improve product quality and to extend service life of frying oil or fat. It was a great pleasure for us to organize and prepare this special issue on deep-fat frying and we thank all the authors for their interesting contributions and their work. We are also grateful to all the reviewers for their time-consuming, but essential, valuable, and important help. In our opinion this special issue gives excellent information on the latest developments and knowledge about deep-fat frying and we are sure that everyone will get new information from this issue of EJLST, available online at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ejlt.v116.6/issuetoc. Christian Gertz Maxfry Hagen Felix Aladedunye Max Rubner-Institut Detmold Bertrand Matthäus Max Rubner-Institut Detmold

The effects of acrylamide on brain creatine kinase: Inhibition kinetics and computational docking simulation

The occurrence of acrylamide is frequently observed in processed foods. Therefore, the harmful effects of acrylamide on metabolic enzymes are important to understand. We studied the inhibitory effects of acrylamide on the brain creatine kinase (CK-BB). We found that CK-BB was kinetically inactivated by acrylamide accompanied by the disruption of the hydrophobic surface. Acrylamide mainly interacted with the thiol (–SH) residue of CK-BB and resulted in alkylation. A computational docking simulation supported that acrylamide directly bound to the active site of CK-BB where cysteine and glycine residues interacted mainly. The inhibition kinetics combined with computational prediction can be useful in order to have insights into the mechanisms regarding environmentally hazardous factors at the molecular level.

Analysis of acrylamide in traditional foodstuffs in Zimbabwe

We carried out a preliminary study on the occurrence of acrylamide in potentially high risk traditional foodstuffs consumed in Zimbabwe. Various studies have shown that acrylamide, a ‘probable human carcinogen’, is formed by high temperature thermal processing of carbohydrate rich foodstuffs (lnternational Agency for Research on Cancer, 1994). Acrylamide concentrations in roasted maize, groundnuts, soy beans and boiled maize were determined using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometer (LC-MS/MS). The relative standard deviation of the analytical technique was 5% and the limit of detection was 0.02 µg/kg. Acrylamide was not detected in boiled maize. Roasted maize contained 450 µg/kg acrylamide. Roasted groundnuts had 140 µg/kg and finally, roasted soybeans with a concentration of 70 µg/kg acrylamide.

Occurrence of acrylamide in selected foods and mitigation options

Acrylamide reduction in certain food products is an important issue for both the food industry and academic research institutions. The present paper summarises past and current research on the occurrence and reduction of acrylamide in potatoes, bakery products, almonds, olives and dried fruit. In potatoes, the control of reducing sugars, process temperature and moisture is imperative to limit acrylamide formation. In bakery products, free asparagine and the type of baking agent largely determine acrylamide formation and present the starting points for reduction. The application of asparaginase is promising in this respect because it acts only on the key precursor, asparagine, whereby the product character remains unchanged. The baking agent NH4HCO3 promotes acrylamide formation in sweet bakery but its replacement by NaHCO3 effectively decreases acrylamide concentrations. Temperature and free asparagine are the key factors for acrylamide formation in roasted almonds. Olives and dried fruit may contain acrylamide and large amounts of acrylamide can be formed upon heating these products, a phenomenon which needs further investigation.

Pyrolytic acrylamide formation from purified wheat gluten and gluten‐supplemented wheat bread rolls

Recent studies have revealed different acrylamide formation mechanisms, e. g. from carnosine (N-beta-alanyl-L-histidine) and aminopropionamide as additional precursors. The occurrence of acrylamide in food matrices devoid of common precursors such as meat supports an additional formation pathway. Gluten was recovered from wheat flour by water extraction. Starch, reducing sugars and amino acids were removed using alpha-amylase and NaCl solution and were completely absent in the purified gluten fraction. The gluten was dry heated at temperatures ranging from 160 to 240 degrees C for 8 to 12 min and analyzed for acrylamide and cinnamic amide using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Acrylamide could be detected up to 3997 microg/kg gluten dry weight. Cinnamic amide was detected and unambiguously identified in the gluten samples, thus confirming the proposed formation of acrylamide from proteins. After gluten addition to bread roll dough, protein pyrolysis to form acrylamide in the complex food matrix was assessed. Contents of asparagine and reducing sugars were diminished due to the addition of the gluten. In contrast to the expectation with respect to the well-established common formation mechanism of acrylamide, it increased from 53.4 to 63.9 microg/kg (+20%), which was in good correlation with the higher proportion of gluten. As demonstrated by the t-test, the increase in acrylamide was significant when comparing 0 and 15% gluten addition. Additionally, cinnamic amide could be found in crusts of bread rolls. Thus, evidence for pyrolytic formation of acrylamide from wheat gluten was provided.

Acrylamide–occurrence in mixed concentrate feed for dairy cows and carry-over into milk

During the preparation of cooked foods acrylamide is formed from asparagine and reducing sugars at high temperatures. By-products of oil, starch and sugar production, which may be found in animal feed, partially result from processing steps using heat treatment that are similarly likely to form acrylamide. Possibly, pelletizing during the processing of mixed concentrates may also be involved in acrylamide formation. Thus the occurrence of acrylamide in animal feed and the potential for carry-over into animal products should be tested. Independently of the feed matrix, 1.5 g per day of acrylamide was fed to a cow for ten days resulting in a mean concentration of 175 µg/kg of acrylamide in the milk. From the data obtained the mean carry-over was found to be 0.24%, and a mean half-life time of 2.8 h was estimated. This means acrylamide was rapidly transformed in the cow. The acrylamide concentrations in three commercial mixed concentrates were respectively 180, 145 and 140 µg/kg feed. To test the possible effect of pelletizing, the peripheral zones were separately analysed. No difference in concentration was observed. Based on the carry-over rate estimated in this study, a maximum concentration of approx. 0.2 µg/kg of acrylamide would be expected in milk from cows fed with such feeds.

Acrylamide: An Update on Current Knowledge in Analysis, Levels in Food, Mechanisms of Formation, and Potential Strategies of Control

This review summarizes the research to date on acrylamide levels in food, analytical methods, main sources of dietary exposure, mechanisms of formation, and mitigation research in the major food categories. Significant progress in the research has been made over the past 18 months, as reflected by the numerous publications and national and international workshops on the subject. This rapid pace of developments is mainly attributable to the coordinated and collaborative efforts of all of those concerned: the food industry, academia, private/enforcement laboratories, and national authorities. Most of the information gaps identified since the findings in early 2002 on the occurrence of acrylamide in foods and exposure assessments have been addressed, and public databases have been established by several authorities. Today, the performance of analytical methods, particularly for "difficult" food matrices, is adequate, and any modifications made over the past 12 to 18 months in analytical procedures did not significantly impact the initial exposure calculations. Several avenues into mitigation have been explored in the different food categories, with much emphasis being placed on potato-based products, and empirical trials (mostly pilot studies) have provided better knowledge of the key parameters that influence acrylamide formation. However, despite these intensive efforts, only marginal reductions have been achieved by the food industry, and any further progress will entail long-term studies at the primary production level. Any measures devised to reduce exposure to acrylamide in commercial foods must be carefully assessed in terms of food safety and quality. A hitherto poorly addressed concern is the formation of acrylamide in foods prepared by consumers in the home, and more guidance on this by national authorities is warranted.