Assessment of acrylamide in potato chips and French fries consumed by the Romanian population

Abstract

Acrylamide (AA) is the amide of acrylic acid (NH 2 -C(=O)-CH=CH 2 ) and it is considered a chemical process contaminant. AA is formed when food is subjected to technological processes of frying, roasting, and baking, at temperatures above 120℃ and low moisture conditions, being the result of the reaction between the amino group of asparagine and the carbonyl group of reducing carbohydrates, mainly glucose, fructose, and maltose (European Food Safety Authority [EFSA], 2015). AA has been classified as a "probable human carcinogen," being included in Carcinogenicity Group 2A (International Agency for Research for Cancer [IARC], 1994). Recent studies conducted on animals confirmed previous assessments indicating that AA in foods can increase the risk of developing cancer for consumers in all age groups (Commission Regulation [EC], 2017). Experimental studies have shown that AA intake is connected with the risk of ovarian and endometrial cancers, especially among never smoker women (Adani et al., 2020). Celik et al. (2018) demonstrated that AA for the HEK293 cell line can present cytotoxicity and genotoxicity effects. In addition, exposure to AA presents a risk in fetus brain development, induces cell apoptosis (Bu et al., 2020; Song et al., 2021) and can promote the release of inflammatory factors and produce neuronal damage (Liu et al., 2020).The tolerable daily intake of AA was determined to be 40 μg/kg/ day for neurotoxicity and 2.6 μg/kg/day for carcinogenicity (Tardiff et al., 2010).AA is found at high levels in coffee, followed by potato-based and cereal-based products, but fried potato products are identified as the main contributor to total dietary exposure (EFSA, 2015). As reported by EFSA (2015), fried potato products including FF, croquettes, and roasted potatoes contribute to the average AA exposure for adults up to 49%, whereas fried potato products except

Occurrence and Dietary Exposure to Acrylamide from Foods Consumed within and outside Main Meals in Singapore

“…It should be noted that 41.7% (15 out of 36) of potato-based products exceeded the EU benchmark level of 750 µg/kg for potato-based crackers [ 14 ]. Similar findings were reported in recent studies conducted in Romania and Bangladesh [ 41 , 42 ]. Although there was also evidence of reduced acrylamide levels in potato crisps in Europe [ 43 ], risk mitigation measures such as reducing acrylamide formation during food processing remain ongoing research areas [ 44 , 45 ].…”