1. Acrylamide in Biscuits & Crispbread Geoff Thompson

2. 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

3. Kinetic Model (Wedzicha et al)

4. 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

5. 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.

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

7. 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)

8. 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

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

10. Process Management
Significant reductions have been achieved with crispbreads

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

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

13. Finished Product Characteristics
Acrylamide (g/kg)
Colour

14. 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%.