Survey of acrylamide in marketed biscuits and industrial mitigation via dough composition and asparaginase

Acrylamide, a compound formed during the Maillard reaction, raises health concerns due to its presence in several heat-processed foods, prompting the European Union (EU) to recommend limits. This study surveyed acrylamide levels in commercialized biscuits. We optimized the analytical clean-up steps (using PVPP/PSA before and after derivatization) to address specificity and recovery issues in existing methods for these samples analyzed by GC-MS in SIM mode. The validated method demonstrated good precision (∼25%), accuracy (87– 120%), and a 1.34 μg/kg detection limit. Among 15 commercial biscuits, 27% exceeded EU acrylamide limits, while 13% had undetectable levels and 60% were below benchmarks. Acrylamide levels correlated with asparagine content in doughs (r = 0.943, p < 0.05 ), especially in biscuits with high-asparagine content apple powder. Other influencing factors included reducing sugars and free amino acids in doughs. Industrial asparaginase use reduced acrylamide by 74.6– 100%, though less effectively in apple powder biscuits due to their inherent asparagine and structural characteristics. Both biscuit dough composition, mainly the use of non-reducing sucrose as sweetener, and especially the use of asparaginase use the doughs without changing its composition are efficient approaches for reducing or even eliminate the formation of acrylamide in biscuits at industrial scale. • 27% of the biscuits analyzed exceeded the EU’s recommended acrylamide limit • Acrylamide levels in biscuits correlated to asparagine content in doughs • Dough asparagine level was highly dependent on the ingredients used besides flour • The use of sucrose as sweetener in biscuit production decreased acrylamide levels • Asparaginase reduced acrylamide by 75-100% without changing the production process