Acrylamide in Biscuits & Crispbread Geoff Thompson

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

Kinetic Model (Wedzicha et al)

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

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.

Product Composition RICH TEA DIGESTIVES SOFT COOKIES CRISPBREAD CRACOTTE FIG ROLLS DIGESTIVE CREAMS CREAM CRACKERS

Acrylamide in product (g/kg) * Product Composition Even minor ingredients can have a significant effect Ingredients (2%) Acrylamide in product (g/kg) * Cocoa powder 281 Basic recipe (no ‘minor’ ingredients) 334 Cardamon 377 Honey 417 Ginger 428 *(1 Std. Dev. = 20)

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

Process Management Acrylamide (g/kg) Baking time (min)

Process Management Significant reductions have been achieved with crispbreads

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

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

Finished Product Characteristics Acrylamide (g/kg) Colour

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%.