Acrylamide, hydroxymethylfurfural and furfural in ready-to-eat foods consumed by child population: Presence, risk assessment and future perspectives.

Food intake contributes to adequate growth and neurodevelopment of children. Ready-to-eat foods, frequently consumed by this population, are sources of acrylamide (AA), hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) and furfural (FF). In this sense, a review of the AA, HMF, and FF presence in ready-to-eat foods was evaluated through a systematic search to infer the risk of exposure in the child population. About 75.8%, 24.2%, and 21% of the studies found AA, HMF, and FF in ready-to-eat foods, respectively. AA is predominant in processed and ultra-processed foods, while HMF and FF are commonly found in fruit-based foods. Only 17.7% of the studies assessed the children's risk of exposure, based on the contaminant concentration in ready-to-eat food and not after gastrointestinal digestion, a more realistic measure. Therefore, with the obtained information and found gaps, it is expected that new strategies will be proposed to assess the vulnerability of the child population to these processing contaminants.

The burden of disease due to dietary exposure to acrylamide in Italy: A risk assessment-based approach.

The aim of this study was to assess Italian consumers' risk of cancer and burden of disease due to dietary exposure to acrylamide. Our model considered six age groups such as infants, toddlers, other children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly, and the consumption of 31 food items. Using a risk-assessment-based approach, we first characterized the risk of neoplastic effects using the margin of exposure method. Then the risk of kidney, endometrial, breast, ovarian cancer, and total cancer was estimated using adjusted cancer slope factors while the burden of disease was quantified using Disability-adjusted Life Years (DALYs). The highest risk for females was related to breast cancer while the lowest was for kidney cancer. We found a comparable risk of total cancer among Italian males and females, estimated at around 1.59 to 3.57 cases per 100,000 individuals annually with the burden ranging between 12.3 - 25.4 and 11.4 - 24.1 DALYs respectively. Our findings provide insights on the multifaceted impact of acrylamide on public health by offering detailed insights into age-specific exposure levels, diverse cancer risks, and the dietary burden of disease related to acrylamide. Targeted interventions and policies can be developed towards mitigating the health risks associated with acrylamide exposure.

Acrylamide in potato chips in Iran, health risk assessment and mitigation.

This study aimed to determine the acrylamide content in potato chips sold in Kermanshah, Iran and assess the potential health concerns associated with acrylamide exposure. HPLC-DAD was used to analyse 120 samples across 40 brands. The possible non-carcinogenic risk index for adults was below 1 for all 40 brands (100%), but for children it was only below 1 for 9 brands (22.5%) and above 1 for 31 brands (77.5%). Regarding the possible carcinogenic risk index, for adults only 1 out of 40 brands rated > 10-4, whereas for children all brands rated > 10-4. This shows that children's exposure to acrylamide through potato chips consumption in Kermanshah can be considered a risk on cancer and exposure of adults requires attention and monitoring. The best way to reduce acrylamide in potato chips and associated health risks is to improve the production process, especially temperature and time.

Acrylamide content of industrial and traditional popcorn collected from Tehran's market, Iran: A risk assessment study.

Acrylamide as a probable human carcinogen can be produced via the Maillard reaction between asparagine and reducing sugars at high temperatures during food processing. In this study, the concentration of acrylamide in industrial and traditional popcorn sold in Tehran, Iran in the spring of 2021 was analyzed. Industrial popcorn is popcorn that has a manufacturing license from the health authorities. Traditional popcorn is sold by retailers in entertainment centers. Estimated daily intake (EDI) and margin of exposure (MOE) for neurological changes and neoplastic effects have been estimated. The values of limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantitation (LOQ) were determined as 3.1 and 10.2 ng/mL, respectively. The amount of acrylamide was measured ranging from nondetectable up to 14.8 mg/kg. Acrylamide was detected in 86% of samples. The level of acrylamide in most popcorn samples has been detected as greater than LOD and LOQ. The average content of acrylamide in traditional popcorn was determined to be 7.7 mg/kg which was higher than the average value of 3.08 mg/kg found in industrial popcorn. Significant difference was observed between industrial and traditional popcorn samples. The average intake of popcorn for adolescent population was estimated as 2 g per day. EDI was calculated as 0.3 and 0.12 µg/kg of body weight per day for the traditional and industrial popcorn. These results indicated that popcorn can be considered a potential source of acrylamide exposure in the adolescent population. Furthermore, if the actual MOEs for neurological and neoplastic effects are estimated to be less than 10 000, it is considered a health risk. In this study, MOE has been estimated lower than 10 000 for neurological changes and neoplastic effects.

Efficient optimization and development of two methods for the determination of acrylamide in deep-frying oil by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry: Application of multifactor analysis assessment strategy.

A new multifactor analysis assessment strategy was developed for evaluating, optimizing, and comparing analytical techniques for acrylamide in frying oils. Based on five indices (absolute recovery, absolute matrix effect, the intensity of the full ion scan, and the precursor ion scan to m/z 184 and m/z 241), the proposed strategy was performed with radar analysis, relative contribution analysis, and the entropy-weighted technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution analysis. Two novel methods based on quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe extraction methodology and gel permeation chromatography-liquid-liquid extraction followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry have been developed for the analysis of acrylamide in frying oils. Two methods were suitable for rapid and sensitive analysis of acrylamide in oils in different laboratories, with a limit of quantitation at 2 µg/kg, and the average recovery ranging from 92.5% to 107.8%, with relative standard deviations below 10%. When considering automation efficiency and matrix effects, gel permeation chromatography is the most efficient method, whereas the other method has an advantage when analyzing large samples. The developed methods were used in a pilot study to analyze frying oils with acrylamide content below 9.82 µg/kg, showing that the repeated frying process did not produce significant content of acrylamide in oils.

Assessment of the acrylamide bioaccessibility in cereal and potato-based foods after in vitro digestion.

Acrylamide bioaccessibility during and after in vitro gastrointestinal digestion of cereal and potato-based foods was monitored. Isolated vs combined meals were evaluated with the aim of investigating acrylamide-food matrix interactions. The meals considered were breakfast cereals, biscuits, patatas a lo pobre (patatas-pobre) and French fries for isolated foods; breakfast cereals with yoghurt, biscuits with milk, patatas-pobre with scrambled eggs and French fries with meat steak for combined foods. The non-bioaccessible fraction of acrylamide tended to decrease during the digestion process in all the systems. However, the final bioaccessible acrylamide was affected by the food matrix composition (fibre, protein, sugars and lipids). The digestion of breakfast cereals, biscuits with milk, patatas-pobre and patatas-pobre with scrambled eggs led to acrylamide bioaccessibility below the initial content of the contaminant in the meals. In absolute values, the combined consumption of biscuits and milk significantly reduced the bioaccessible acrylamide compared with isolated biscuits (from 212 to 122 ng; p < 0.05). The presence of protein sources (egg or meat steak) in the potato-based products significantly decreased the acrylamide bioaccessibility, which was more prominent in the French fries-meat steak system (from 2100 to 1698 ng; p < 0.05). These findings establish the importance of considering complete meals and not only isolated foods as well as the study of the non-bioaccessible fractions for a better understanding of acrylamide bioaccessibility, its recovery and interactions during gastrointestinal digestion.

Acrylamide in non-centrifugal sugar from Latin American markets: in-house validation of an LC-MS/MS method, dietary exposure assessment and risk characterisation in Brazil and Colombia.

A liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method (LC-MS/MS) preceded by a rapid and simple QuEChERS-based sample preparation was developed and validated for the determination of acrylamide in non-centrifugal sugar (NCS), a solid product obtained from sugarcane juice without centrifugation, up to a concentration greater than 90 ºBrix. Adequate linearity in calibration curves, analytical selectivity and sensitivity were achieved. A limit of detection (LOD) and a limit of quantitation (LOQ) of 10 and 20 µg kg-1, respectively, were obtained. Recoveries (84.3-107.5%) and coefficients of variation (CV<15%) for repeatability and reproducibility conditions were appropriate in intraday and interday laboratory conditions. The concentration of acrylamide was determined in 76 commercial samples of NCS from different Latin American countries and ranged from <20 to 1414 µg kg-1. The highest mean acrylamide amounts were found in samples from Peru, Ecuador and Colombia (636, 446 and 401 µg kg-1, respectively). Considering the form of the product, the highest average levels were found in granulated NCS (517 µg kg-1) when compared to block (294 µg kg-1). Within the Colombian samples, organic NCS, made with natural flocculant, presented a higher acrylamide mean concentration (721 µg kg-1) than conventional samples (363 µg kg-1). Although the Margin of Exposure (MOE) values for neurotoxicity suggested that the estimated intakes in Brazil and Colombia are not a concern, MOEs obtained for neoplastic effects raised attention.

Determination and risk assessment of acrylamide in thermally processed Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma.

As one of the medicine homologous foods in China, Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma (AMR) is usually distributed after thermal processing, which raised the possibility of acrylamide pollution and a potential carcinogenic risk. In this study, a method was developed for the determination of the acrylamide in AMR using graphited multiwalled carbon nanotubes as the dispersive solid phase extraction sorbent and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The concentration of acrylamide was investigated at processing conditions of 80℃-210℃ and 5 min-100 min. Method validation results demonstrated the reliability of the method with good linearity, accuracy and precision. Significant increment of acrylamide was found in AMR after thermal processing with the highest concentration at 9826 µg/kg, which led to a margin of exposure at 90.83-181.7 according to the BMDL10 of carcinogenicity at 0.17 mg/kg, indicating a high health risk of taking thermally processed AMR, and monitoring and controlling should be considered.

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.

Acrylamide content of collected food products from Tehran's market: a risk assessment study.

Acrylamide concentration in food products collected from the Tehran market was investigated by the aid of a dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) system coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Also, the dietary exposure distribution and related potential risk for acrylamide ingestion were estimated by the Monte Carlo simulation (MCS). The highest and lowest mean concentration of acrylamide was detected in coffee and roasted nuts samples as 549 and 133 µg/kg, respectively. The mean acrylamide dietary exposure values for children (3-10 years), adolescents (11-17 years), adults (18-60 years), and seniors (61-96 years) were estimated to be 1.81, 1.02, 0.61, and 0.53 µg/kg body weight (BW)/day, respectively. In all age groups, except children, the estimated exposure in men and boys was higher than that in women and girls. Bread, despite containing low acrylamide content groups (157 µg/kg while compared with other, except roasted nuts), showed with the highest contribution rate in all age groups due to its high consumption rate. The estimated incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) for all age groups was noted as greater than 10-4 indicating serious risk to the population. Moreover, the margin of exposure (MOE) values based on carcinogenicity showed health concern to all age groups (< 10,000). Regarding the non-carcinogenic risk, the target hazard quotient (THQ) was lower than 1, and MOE based on neurotoxicity was higher than 125 (safety thresholds), which represented negligible and ignorable risk in all age groups except in a small group of children and adolescents. Graphical abstract.

Acrylamide in biscuits commercialised in Spain: a view of the Spanish market from 2007 to 2019.

The biscuit industry has evolved in the last decades with the inclusion of alternative cereals, pseudo-cereals and other ingredients in traditional recipes, which allows current consumers' needs to be met. The dough composition, thermal treatment applied during baking, low moisture, and high rate of consumption make biscuits important contributors to daily exposure to acrylamide in Western diets. Acrylamide was determined by LC-ESI-MS/MS in 80 commercial biscuits marketed in Spain. The mean acrylamide content was 343 µg kg-1 (from <20 to 2144 µg kg-1). Rye, teff and oat-based biscuits exhibited the highest content (2144, 1559 and 1424 µg kg-1, respectively). 70% of the samples were below the benchmark level established by the EU Regulation 2017/2158. Compared to our previous prospective study in 2007 on the Spanish market, acrylamide has experienced an important decline (45%) in wheat-based formulations, demonstrating the effectiveness of the mitigation strategies applied in the sector. However, when all samples were considered, a slight non-significant decrease (18%) was observed. This fact suggests that the reformulation of traditional recipes with innovative cereals and ingredients could increase the acrylamide content in biscuits despite the mitigation strategies applied. Therefore, forthcoming reviews of the regulation should consider establishing categories in biscuits according to the main cereal, as has already been established in breakfast cereals.

Health risk assessment of acrylamide in bread in Iran using LC-MS/MS.

Acrylamide is a chemical, often present in bread, legally classified as carcinogen, mutagen and reproductive toxicant. Since bread is consumed both world-wide and in Iran, determination of acrylamide in different types of breads is of high interest. In the present study, acrylamide was monitored in 56 Sangak and 30 industrial bread samples collected from Tehran and Shiraz, using LC-MS/MS (LOQ = 1 ng/g). In addition, the noncarcinogenic risk (target hazard quotient-THQ) and carcinogenic risk (incremental lifetime cancer risk-ILCR) due to ingestion of acrylamide through bread consumption in children and adults were assessed. Acrylamide was detected in more than 90% of the samples tested. The average daily intake of acrylamide in Iran based on exclusive consumption of Sangak bread, was estimated at 145 ng/kg bw/day. Based on the THQ for bread acrylamide in adults and children, the decreasing risk order was: Shiraz semi-industrial Sangak, Shiraz traditional Sangak, Tehran traditional Sangak, Tehran industrial bread. The ILCR of bread acrylamide calculated for adults and children was higher than the permissible lifetime carcinogenic risk value established by USEPA (1.00E-5). Results show that bread is a major source of acrylamide intake by people in Iran and all consumers regardless of age could be at elevated carcinogenic risk.

Application of food description to the food classification system: Evidence of risk assessment from Taiwan as Acrylamide of grain products.

Harmonization of national consumption data for international comparison is an important but challenging work, yet to date there is a lack of comparable food classification system that incorporates food description in Taiwan. In 2015, European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) released a new standardized food classification and description system called FoodEx2, which provides a flexible combination of classifications and descriptions. Based on FoodEx2 and a unique data set of daily food consumption offered by Taiwan Food Consumption Database, this study aims to provide a harmonized, food description incorporated, food classification system (HFDFC system) that captures all the useful details of food groups in exposure assessments. The HFDFC system was built according to six risk-assessment-related facets including food sources, processed products, cooking methods, manufacturers (brand), food additives and specialty foods. The HFDFC system includes 199 foods in the core list and 131 foods in the extended list. This study also compared the Acrylamide hazard index estimated under the HFDFC system with that under the National Food Consumption Database in Taiwan (NFCDT). The findings indicated that the HFDFC system provides useful and detailed information that helps the users to quickly identify food information in a harmonized manner and to reduce estimation bias. The HFDFC system is expected to facilitate global comparisons in the food risk assessment because it is built based upon EU Foodex2.

Determination of acrylamide in food using a UPLC-MS/MS method: results of the official control and dietary exposure assessment in Cyprus.

The determination of acrylamide in potato products, bakery products and coffee, and the human dietary exposure is reported. The method reported is based on a single extraction step with water, followed by the clean-up of the extract using solid phase extraction columns and finally, the determination of acrylamide using UPLC-MS/MS. The MS/MS detection was carried out using an ESI interface in positive ion mode. Internal calibration was used for the quantification of acrylamide, because of the suppression/enhancement matrix effects due to the complex nature of the samples. The method performance characteristics were determined after spiking blank samples. The mean recoveries in spiked coffee samples, potato chips, breakfast cereals and crispbread ranged from 93% to 99%, with RSDs lower than 5% for both repeatability and reproducibility conditions. The estimated limits of detection and quantification of the method were 10 and 32 µg kg-1, respectively. The method was used for monitoring acrylamide in 406 samples. Acrylamide amounts ranged from <32 to 2450 µg kg-1. A total of 360 samples (89%) were contaminated with acrylamide, but only 14% of the samples exceeded the benchmark levels of the EU legislation. Foods with the highest mean acrylamide amounts were potato crisps (642 µg kg-1), French fries (383 µg kg-1) and biscuits (353 µg kg-1). The mean and 95th percentile acrylamide exposures of adolescents in Cyprus were 0.8 and 1.8 µg kg-1 body weight per day, respectively. The estimated levels of dietary exposure to acrylamide are not of concern with respect to neurotoxicity. However, the margins of exposure (MOEs) indicate a concern for carcinogenicity. Potato fried products (45%), fine bakery ware (21%) and potato chips (14%) contributed the most to overall acrylamide exposure.

Probabilistic non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk assessments (Monte Carlo simulation method) of the measured acrylamide content in Tah-dig using QuEChERS extraction and UHPLC-MS/MS.

A modified "Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe" QuEChERS in combination with Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) method was optimized for the determination of acrylamide content in different types of tah-dig (rice, bread, and potato). Also, the non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks (target hazard quotient (THQ) and incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR)) due to ingestion of acrylamide via tah-dig in the adults and children were assessed by Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) method. The recoveries of acrylamide at five concentration levels (n = 3) ranged from 83.82% to 106.41%. The repeatability of the proposed method was demonstrated with RSD% in the range of 11.3-20%. In addition, the limits of detection and quantification were reported as 5 ngg-1 and 15 ngg-1, respectively. The mean levels of the acrylamide contents in rice tah-dig, bread tah-dig, and potato tah-dig were measured as 24.65 ngg-1, 39.48 ngg-1, and 714.11 ngg-1, respectively. The highest acrylamide content was determined in potato tah-dig (2100 ngg-1) and the lowest acrylamide in rice tah-dig (≤LOQ). Based on the conducted risk assessment, the P (95%) of cumulative probability in the MCS method, the lowest and highest THQ was observed in the adults (ingestion bread tah-dig: 1.29E-2), and children (ingestion potato tah-dig: 1.90E+00), respectively. Additionally, the lowest and highest ILCR were reported in adults (ingestion bread tah-dig: 1.29E-5) and children (ingestion potato tah-dig: 7.49E-3), respectively. The rank order of type tah-dig based on THQ and ILCR for all groups of consumers was potato tah-dig > rice tah-dig > bread tah-dig. There is a considerable non-carcinogenic risk for the children due to ingestion potato tah-dig (THQ > 1). Additionally, the significant carcinogenic risk for the Iranian adults and children due to consumption of rice, bread, and potato tah-dig (ILCR > 1.00E-5) was observed.

Occurrence and risk assessment of mycotoxins, acrylamide, and furan in Latvian beer.

This work reports data on the occurrence of nine mycotoxins and two food processing contaminants - acrylamide and furan - in a total of 100 beers produced in Latvia. Mycotoxins were detected by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry, acrylamide by HPLC coupled with quadrupole-Orbitrap mass spectrometry, and furan by headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The most frequently occurring mycotoxins were HT-2 and deoxynivalenol (DON), which were detected in 52% and 51% of the analysed samples. The highest content was observed for DON, reaching the maximum of 248 µg kg-1. Furan was ubiquitous, and 74% of the samples contained acrylamide. In terms of the estimated exposure, the biggest potential risk was identified for HT-2 representing more than 11% of tolerable weekly intake. The margin of exposure approach indicated the exposure to furan through beer as significant, this parameter being close to the critical limit.

Dietary exposure to acrylamide from cafeteria foods in Jeddah schools and associated risk assessment.

BACKGROUND: Acrylamide (AA) is a carcinogenic and genotoxic food contaminant produced at high temperatures in foods that are rich in carbohydrates. Foods sold in schools in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, are among such carbohydrate-rich foods produced at high cooking temperatures. It is crucial to determine the importance of AA exposure with respect to cafeteria foods and assess the associated risks. RESULTS: The highest mean AA level was measured in chocolate pies (439 µg kg-1 ), followed by custard pies (435 µg kg-1 ) and cheese pies (432 µg kg-1 ). The average and 95th percentile values of AA exposure were 0.51 and 1.17 [µg kg-1 body weight (BW) school day-1 ]. The average exposure significantly decreased with an increase in age, from 0.65 (µg kg-1 BW school day-1 ) in primary school students to 0.37 in secondary school students. Cheese and chocolate pies are the main contributors in AA intake. The contributions of cheese and chocolate pies to the average exposure among primary, middle and secondary school students were 23.1%, 24.7% and 29.4% and 16.9%, 12.1% and 11.9%, respectively. Other products with significant contributions included cheese sandwiches (10.8%, 8.9% and 12.7%), plain cookies (7.7%, 5.6% and 6.7%) and custard pies (7.7%, 4.8% and 8.9%). Other cafeteria products contributed to AA exposure at much lower percentages. CONCLUSION: The calculated margins of exposure (MOEs) for the average [356 and 614 for both benchmark dose lower confidence limit (BMDL) 0.18 and 0.31 mg kg-1 BW day-1 ] and 95th percentile AA exposure values (154 and 265 for both BMDL 0.18 and 0.31 mg kg-1 BW day-1 ) suggest that there is a health concern with respect to school-aged students. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Application of modified hollow fiber liquid phase microextraction in conjunction with chromatography-electron capture detection for quantification of acrylamide in waste water samples at ultra-trace levels.

Herein, a simple and sensitive method was successfully developed for the extraction and quantification of acrylamide in water samples. Initially, acrylamide was derivatized through a bromination process. Subsequently, a modified hollow-fiber liquid-phase microextraction was applied for the extraction of the brominated acrylamide from a 10-ml portion of an aqueous sample. Briefly, in this method, the derivatized acrylamide (2,3-dibromopropionamide) was extracted from the aqueous sample into a thin layer of an organic solvent sustained in pores of a porous hollow fiber. Then, it was back-extracted using a small volume of organic acceptor solution (acetonitril, 25µl) located inside the lumen of the hollow fiber followed by gas chromatography-electron capture detection (GC-ECD). The optimal conditions were examined for the extraction of the analyte such as: the organic solvent: dihexyl ether+10% tri-n-octyl phosphine oxide; stirring rate: 750rpm; no salt addition and 30min extraction time. These optimal extraction conditions allowed excellent enrichment factor values for the method. Enrichment factor, detection limit (S/N=3) and dynamic linear range of 60, 2ngL-1 and 50-1000ngL-1 to be determined for the analyte. The relative standard deviations (RSD%) representing precision of the method were in the range of 2.2-5.8 based on the average of three measurements. Accuracy of the method was tested by the relative recovery experiments on spiked samples, with results ranging from 93 to 108%. Finally, the method proved to be simple, rapid, and cost-effective for routine screen of acrylamide-contaminated highly-complicated untreated waste water samples.

Monitoring urinary mercapturic acids as biomarkers of human dietary exposure to acrylamide in combination with acrylamide uptake assessment based on duplicate diets.

The present human intervention study investigated the relation between the intake of acrylamide (AA) in diets with minimized, low, and high AA contents and the levels of urinary exposure biomarkers. As biomarkers, the mercapturic acids, N-acetyl-S-(carbamoylethyl)-L-cysteine (AAMA), and N-acetyl-S-(1-carbamoyl-2-hydroxyethyl)-L-cysteine (GAMA) were monitored. The study was performed with 14 healthy male volunteers over a period of 9 days, under controlled conditions excluding any inadvertent AA exposure. Dietary exposure to AA was measured by determining AA contents in duplicates of all meals consumed by the volunteers. The study design included an initial washout period of 3 days on AA-minimized diet, resulting in dietary AA exposure not exceeding 41 ng/kg bw/d. Identical washout periods of 2 days each followed the AA exposure days (day 4, low exposure, and day 7, high exposure). At the respective AA intake days, volunteers ingested 0.6-0.8 (low exposure) or 1.3-1.8 (high exposure) µg AA/kg bw/d with their food. Both low and high AA intakes resulted in an AAMA output within 72 h corresponding to 58 % of the respective AA intake. At the end of the initial 3-day washout period, an AAMA baseline level of 93 ± 31 nmol/d was recorded, suggestive for an assumed net AA baseline exposure level of 0.2-0.3 µg AA/kg bw/d.

Acrylamide mitigation strategies: critical appraisal of the FoodDrinkEurope toolbox.

FoodDrinkEurope Federation recently released the latest version of the Acrylamide Toolbox to support manufacturers in acrylamide reduction activities giving indication about the possible mitigation strategies. The Toolbox is intended for small and medium size enterprises with limited R&D resources, however no comments about the pro and cons of the different measures were provided to advise the potential users. Experts of the field are aware that not all the strategies proposed have equal value in terms of efficacy and cost/benefit ratio. This consideration prompted us to provide a qualitative science-based ranking of the mitigation strategies proposed in the acrylamide Toolbox, focusing on bakery and fried potato products. Five authors from different geographical areas having a publication record on acrylamide mitigation strategies worked independently ranking the efficacy of the acrylamide mitigation strategies taking into account three key parameters: (i) reduction rate; (ii) side effects; and (iii) applicability and economic impact. On the basis of their own experience and considering selected literature of the last ten years, the authors scored for each key parameter the acrylamide mitigation strategies proposed in the Toolbox. As expected, all strategies selected in the Toolbox turned out to be useful, however, not at the same level. The use of enzyme asparaginase and the selection of low sugar varieties were considered the best mitigation strategies in bakery and in potato products, respectively. According to authors' opinion most of the other mitigation strategies, although effective, either have relevant side effects on the sensory profile of the products, or they are not easy to implement in industrial production. The final outcome was a science based commented ranking which can enrich the acrylamide Toolbox supporting individual manufacturer in taking the best actions to reduce the acrylamide content in their specific production context.