Concentration of Acrylamide in Selected Foods Vended in Informal Settlements of Nairobi City County, Kenya

Aims: To determine the concentration of acrylamide (AA) in selected foods vended in informal settlements of Nairobi City County. Study Design: Analytical cross-sectional. Place and Duration of Study: Kibera Informal settlements, Nairobi City County, Kenya, May 2021. Methodology: A total of 162 food samples were collected. They included potato chips (25 samples), crisps (22), bhajia (20), chapatti (27), mandazi (24), samosa (25) and coffee (19) samples. Nairobi city County was sampled purposively and villages randomly. Samples were collected using convenience sampling. Food samples were collected in the vendors’ original packaging material. High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Ultraviolet (LC-UV) laboratory procedure was used for analysis. One-way ANOVA was used to test for differences in mean AA concentration in different food groups. Tukey-Kramer post hoc test was used to identify specific differences between AA means. Results: The highest AA level was found in crisps (246.9 µg/kg) and the least.in mandazi (44.1 µg/kg). Coffee recorded the highest average AA (130.28 µg/kg). Mandazi recoreded both the least (44.1 µg/kg) AA amount and the least (69.47 µg/kg) AA average. None of the samples of chips, crisps, bhajia and coffee exceeded the Benchmark levels. All the samples of chapatti and samosa exceeded the Benchmark levels. Mandazi had 95.8% of its samples exceeding the Benchmark level. There was a statistically significant difference (p = .001) between AA means. AA content was statistically significantly higher in coffee as compared to other food samples. AA content was statistically higher (p =.04) in crisps as compared to mandazi. There was no statistically significant difference between the means of the rest of the groups Conclusion: AA was detected in all food samples analyzed. All the samples of chapatti and samosa, and most of the samples of mandazi exceeded the Benchmark levels. Therefore, the food vendors should put in place AA mitigation measures to minimize AA formation in food and to adhere to the set Benchmark levels for AA in food. Additionally, policymakers should strengthen food safety policies by incorporating food preparation contaminants’ mitigation measures. This is to ensure consumers are protected from the health effects of exposure to dietary acrylamide.