The voice of the European food and drink industry

Acrylamide in Biscuits & Crispbread

Geoff Thompson

The voice of the European food and drink industry

Introduction

• Industry is funding a number of research projects, including one at the Universities of Reading,Nottingham and Leeds in addition to carrying out it’s own work.

• The Maillard reaction is key in the formation of acrylamide

• In biscuits this involves asparagine in the flour reacting with sugars in the recipe

The voice of the European food and drink industry

Kinetic Model (Wedzicha et al)

aldose Int acrylamide

product 1

k1 k2

k5

asnaminoacid

aminoacid

Maillard products

aminoacid

ketose

k6

Int1

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Agronomy• Asparagine in flour varies significantly• 26 samples from

France,Poland,UK,Belgium,Finland,Czech rep. and Italy (2002 Harvest) gave the following results:-

Asparagine Median Minimum Maximum

Mg/100 g 7.9 3.0 21.9

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Raw Materials

• Reducing sugars are reactants in the Maillard reaction

• Avoiding glucose and especially fructose will minimise acrylamide formation

But/• Sucrose (a non-reducing sugar) is already the

sugar used as standard.

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Product Composition

ROT ARYM OUL DED

C O A T ING S A ND W IC HING S PRA YING

S E C O ND A RYPRO C E S S ING

W IREC UT

D E PO S IT E D

SH O R T D O U G H

S W E E T

F E RM E NT E D /NO T F E RM E NT E D

L A M INA T E D NO T L A M INA T E D E X T RUD E D C O -E X T RUD E D

S A V O URY

H AR D D O U G H (sheet & cut)

B ISC U IT S

CRISPBREADCRACOTTE

CREAM CRACKERS

DIGESTIVECREAMS

FIG

ROLLS

RICH TEA

DIGESTIVES SOFT

COOKIES

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Product Composition

• Even minor ingredients can have a significant effect

*(1 Std. Dev. = 20)

Ingredients (2%) Acrylamide in product (g/kg) *

Cocoa powder 281

Basic recipe (no ‘minor’ ingredients)

334

Cardamon 377

Honey 417

Ginger 428

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Product Composition• Raising agents (baking powder) can have an

affect.• Usually a combination of sodium and ammonium

bicarbonate is used• Ammonium bicarbonate does contribute to

acrylamide formation – but how? (15N-labelled bicarb. produces no 15N-labelled acrylamide)

• Replace ammonium with sodium bicarbonate?- Industrial feasibility not proven - Nutritional consequence of increased

sodium

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Process Management

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Baking time (min)

Ac

ryla

mid

e(g

/kg

)

80°C

120°C

160°C

200°C

240°C

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Baking time (min)

Ac

ryla

mid

e(g

/kg

)

80°C

120°C

160°C

200°C

240°C

Ac

ryla

mid

e

(g

/kg

)

Baking time (min)

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Process Management• Significant reductions have been achieved with

crispbreads

1003

558

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Original Process Revised Process

ppb

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Process Management• Avoiding ‘rework’ in crispbread has no effect.

1560

2070

13401250

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

2000

2200

Crispbread 1 Crispbread 1 (norework)

Crispbread 2 Crispbread 2 (norework)

Product

Ac

ryla

mid

e R

es

ult

(p

pb

)

Crispbread 1

Crispbread 2

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Finished Product Characteristics

• Baking biscuits to a lighter colour and higher moisture reduces acrylamide – but significantly changes the product and reduces shelf-life.

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0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Colour

Ac

ryla

mid

e (

g/k

g)

8060 70

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Colour

Ac

ryla

mid

e (

g/k

g)

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Colour

Ac

ryla

mid

e (

g/k

g)

8060 70

Ac

ryla

mid

e

(g

/kg

)

Colour

Finished Product Characteristics

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Conclusions• The category ‘biscuits’ covers a wide range of

products, recipes and processes; biscuits can contain 0 – 600ppb of acrylamide.

• Factors contributing to acrylamide formation have been identified, but there is no ‘quick fix’ for acrylamide reduction.

• Process changes for non-fermented crispbread manufacture have reduced AA levels by 75%.