Comparative Study of Four Analytical Methods for the Routine Determination of Acrylamide in Black Ripe Olives

Self-Assembled PVP-Gd Composite Nanosheets via Ultrasound Synthesis for Targeted Acrylamide Sensing in Food Safety

Acrylamide (AM) is a recognized carcinogen and neurotoxin, posing a significant threat to food safety and human health. Therefore, developing sensitive and convenient methods for AM detection in food samples is essential. This study responds to the urgent need for sensitive and selective detection of AM, a hidden hazard in food, to safeguard public health and environmental safety. We present the development of a novel two-dimensional ultrasound-synthesized PVP-Gd composite nanosheet platform for precise AM sensing. These self-assembled nanosheets, constructed from gadolinium (Gd) and poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP), exhibit remarkable stability and robust blue fluorescence, with a quantum yield of 45.01% upon excitation at 380 nm. A full factorial design was employed to optimize the synthesis process, revealing significant parameter interactions. The optimized nanosheets demonstrated a strong quenching effect upon acrylamide exposure, resulting in a high-performance acrylamide sensor with an impressively low detection limit (9.4 nM) and a broad linear response range. This innovative sensor platform offers a promising approach for environmental monitoring and food safety applications, effectively addressing the risks associated with acrylamide.

New and Rapid Analytical Method Using HPLC-MS Detection for Acrylamide Determination in Black Ripe Olives

The presence of acrylamide, a known human carcinogen, in various heated foods raises significant concerns among consumers. Therefore, the development of a good analytical method is of paramount interest to the scientific community. Keeping this in view, a rapid, simple, reliable, and low-cost analytical method was developed and validated for acrylamide quantification in black ripe olives. The method consisted of the water extraction of the compounds from crushed olives with the addition of (13C3)acrylamide as an internal standard. The quantification was performed using high-pressure liquid chromatography and mass detection with positive electrospray ionization. The limits of detection and quantification were determined to be 4 and 11 µg/kg, respectively. The developed method exhibited excellent results in terms of accuracy (98.4-104.8%) and intra- and inter-day precision limits, both less than 20%. This new method was carried out by analyzing 15 samples of Spanish commercial black ripe olives, revealing a wide range of values, from 79 to 1068 µg/kg of fruit. The new protocol reduces the analysis time to just one hour per sample versus the minimum 24 h required by gas chromatography and mass detection, meaning that it could be a good option for the routine analysis of acrylamide in black ripe olives, and may be extendable to the analysis of this compound in other foods.

Heat-Introduced Formation of Acrylamide in Table Olives: Analysis of Acrylamide, Free Asparagine, and 3-Aminopropionamide

Acrylamide was detected in considerable amounts in black table olives. In this study, besides black, also green and naturally black table olives were investigated for their acrylamide, free asparagine, and 3-aminopropionamide contents before and after heat treatment. Acrylamide amount was 208-773 μg/kg in black table olives and did not change due to heat treatment. In green and naturally black table olives acrylamide was ≤24 μg/kg before heat treatment and rose to 1200 μg/kg afterward. Asparagine content was 0.35-35 mg/kg in all samples before heat treatment and after heat treatment with no considerable change in the range. 3-Aminopropionamide showed amounts of ≤56 μg/kg in the unheated samples and increased up to 131 μg/kg due to heat impact. However, quantified asparagine and 3-aminopropionamide amounts were insufficient in almost all samples to explain the acrylamide quantities formed due to heat treatment based on the formation via the Maillard reaction.

Asparaginase Treatment of Sea Buckthorn Berries as an Effective Tool for Acrylamide Reduction in Nutritionally Enriched Wholegrain Wheat, Rye and Triticale Biscuits

Sea buckthorn pomace is a by-product of juice production, which is still rich in bioactive compounds. After drying, the pomace can be effectively used as a valuable addition to bakery products supporting their nutritional value. However, due to the high content of the amino acid asparagine in sea buckthorn, this promising material contributes to the undesirable formation of acrylamide. To reduce the risk from this potentially carcinogenic compound, enzymatic treatment of sea buckthorn with asparaginase was applied, which resulted in a substantial reduction of asparagine content from 1834 mg/kg in untreated dried sea buckthorn pomace to 89 mg/kg in enzymatically treated dried sea buckthorn pomace. 10% substitution of wholegrain cereal flour with enzymatically treated sea buckthorn pomace powder in rye and triticale biscuits resulted in a 35% reduction in acrylamide content, in the case of wholegrain wheat biscuits up to a 64% reduction, compared to biscuits with untreated sea buckthorn pomace powder. This study confirmed that treating fruit with asparaginase is an effective way to reduce health risk caused by acrylamide in biscuits enriched with nutritionally valuable fruit pomace.

Toxicity, formation, contamination, determination and mitigation of acrylamide in thermally processed plant-based foods and herbal medicines: A review

Thermal processing is one of the important techniques for most of the plant-based food and herb medicines before consumption and application in order to meet the specific requirement. The plant and herbs are rich in amino acids and reducing sugars, and thermal processing may lead to Maillard reaction, resulting as a high risk of acrylamide pollution. Acrylamide, an organic pollutant that can be absorbed by the body through the respiratory tract, digestive tract, skin and mucous membranes, has potential carcinogenicity, neurological, genetic, reproductive and developmental toxicity. Therefore, it is significant to conduct pollution determination and risk assessment for quality assurance and security of medication. This review demonstrates state-of-the-art research of acrylamide focusing on the toxicity, formation, contamination, determination, and mitigation in taking food and herb medicine, to provide reference for scientific processing and ensure the security of consumers.

Towards a consensus LC-MS/MS method for the determination of acrylamide in food that prevents overestimation due to interferences

Acrylamide is prone to misquantification, and critical steps in the analytical procedures need to be identified and controlled to ensure a reliable determination. Four methods were considered to illustrate misquantification issues with acrylamide. For two methods varying by the extent of their sample preparations, cases of overestimation in cocoa samples reaching up to a 20-fold factor are shown. A second example, applied to a variety of food products, includes two other methods varying by their chromatographic conditions. As a follow up of a study conducted in 2020 about the identification of N-acetyl-ß-alanine as an interference of acrylamide in coffee, the extent of this interference was evaluated in a selection of coffee samples, cereal-based products and baby foods. The ultimate objective of this manuscript was to resolve such cases of misquantification and validate a wide scope and robust method allowing an interference free acrylamide analysis. To do so, an extraction procedure based on the EN 16618:2015 standard with water extraction and two consecutive solid phase extraction (SPE) steps was applied with modified liquid chromatographic conditions. The method was validated in coffee, cereals, baby foods, cocoa and pet foods with excellent performance in terms of recovery (97-108%) and precision (RSD_r and RSD_iR <12 %). The breath of scope was further proved through trueness determination in quality control materials and reference materials including French fries, potato crisps, vegetable crisps, instant coffee, infant food and biscuit (cookie), with trueness values found within a 94-107% range.

A portable kit based on thiol-ene Michael addition for acrylamide detection in thermally processed foods

Accurate, sensitive, and selective analysis of acrylamide generated in thermally processed foods is of great significance for food safety. Herein, a novel acrylamide sensing platform is designed for both sensitive on-site colorimetric analysis and accurate UV-vis spectroscopy quantification, by integrating thiol-ene Michael addition with gold nanoparticles-mediated catalytical oxidation. The Michael addition reaction between acrylamide and glutathione efficiently alleviates glutathione-induced catalytic activity inhibition of gold nanoparticles, evoking the chromogenic reaction of H₂O₂-mediated 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine. With increasing the concentration of acrylamide, the oxidation of 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine is accelerated, presenting a series of shades from colorless to blue. The sensing platform exhibits excellent detection performance of acrylamide in the range of 0.5-175 μM with a detection limit of 0.16 μM, and is successfully employed in food samples. Especially, a portable assay kit based on the proposed platform is developed for visual determination of acrylamide, opening an avenue for smart sensors of food safety hazards.

Characterization of Polyphenol and Volatile Fractions of Californian-Style Black Olives and Innovative Application of E-nose for Acrylamide Determination

Californian-style black olives require a sterilization treatment that produces a carcinogenic contaminant, acrylamide. Thus, this compound was evaluated in two different olive cultivars using an electronic nose (E-nose). The sterilization intensity had a significant influence on the final phenol concentrations, acrylamide content, and volatile compounds. Increasing the sterilization intensity from 10 to 26 min (F0) reduced the phenol content, but it promoted acrylamide synthesis, leading to a wide range of this toxic substance. The Ester and phenol groups of volatile compounds decreased their content when the sterilization treatment increased; however, aldehyde and other volatile compound groups significantly increased their contents according to the thermal treatments. The compounds 4-ethenyl-pyridine, benzaldehyde, and 2,4-dimethyl-hexane are volatile compounds with unpleasant odours and demonstrated a high amount of influence on the differences found after the application of the thermal treatments. The “Manzanilla Cacereña” variety presented the highest amount of phenolic compounds and the lowest acrylamide content. Finally, it was found that acrylamide content is correlated with volatile compounds, which was determined using multiple linear regression analysis (R² = 0.9994). Furthermore, the aroma of table olives was analysed using an E-nose, and these results combined with Partial Least Square (PLS) were shown to be an accurate method (range to error ratio (RER) >10 and ratio of performance to deviation (RPD) >2.5) for the indirect quantification of this toxic substance.

Selected Instrumental Techniques Applied in Food and Feed: Quality, Safety and Adulteration Analysis

This review presents an overall glance at selected instrumental analytical techniques and methods used in food analysis, focusing on their primary food science research applications. The methods described represent approaches that have already been developed or are currently being implemented in our laboratories. Some techniques are widespread and well known and hence we will focus only in very specific examples, whilst the relatively less common techniques applied in food science are covered in a wider fashion. We made a particular emphasis on the works published on this topic in the last five years. When appropriate, we referred the reader to specialized reports highlighting each technique's principle and focused on said technologies' applications in the food analysis field. Each example forwarded will consider the advantages and limitations of the application. Certain study cases will typify that several of the techniques mentioned are used simultaneously to resolve an issue, support novel data, or gather further information from the food sample.

Acrylamide in Bakery Products: A Review on Health Risks, Legal Regulations and Strategies to Reduce Its Formation

Acrylamide is a contaminant as defined in Council Regulation (EEC) No 315/93 and as such, it is considered a chemical hazard in the food chain. The toxicity of acrylamide has been acknowledged since 2002, among its toxicological effects on humans being neurotoxicity, genotoxicity, carcinogenicity, and reproductive toxicity. Acrylamide has been classified as carcinogenic in the 2A group, with human exposure leading to progressive degeneration of the peripheral and central nervous systems characterized by cognitive and motor abnormalities. Bakery products (bread, crispbread, cakes, batter, breakfast cereals, biscuits, pies, etc.) are some of the major sources of dietary acrylamide. The review focuses on the levels of acrylamide in foods products, in particular bakery ones, and the risk that resulting dietary intake of acrylamide has on human health. The evolving legislative situation regarding the acrylamide content from foodstuffs, especially bakery ones, in the European Union is discussed underlining different measures that food producers must take in order to comply with the current regulations regarding the acrylamide levels in their products. Different approaches to reduce the acrylamide level in bakery products such as the use of asparginase, calcium salts, antioxidants, acids and their salts, etc., are described in detail.