Infodoc : Sciences, Techniques et Culture

Acrylamide, a potential carcinogen, can be formed in heat-processed foods, such as French fries, potato crisps, coffee and bread. Although there is still no clarity about the risks associated with the current intake levels of dietary acrylamide, mitigation of acrylamide in foods is strongly advised from the principle of precaution.
The aim of this work was to derive mathematical models that describe the formation of acrylamide as a function of product and processing parameters. In three parts, the necessary steps are taken to achieve the aim and objectives.
In the first part, some background information is given around the subject of this thesis: I information about acrylamide and its associated health risks, II information about the Maillard reaction and the formation routes for ac[...]

Acrylamide, a potential carcinogen, can be formed in heat-processed foods, such as French fries, potato crisps, coffee and bread. Although there is still no clarity about the risks associated with the current intake levels of dietary acrylamide, mitigation of acrylamide in foods is strongly advised from the principle of precaution.
The aim of this work was to derive mathematical models that describe the formation of acrylamide as a function of product and processing parameters. In three parts, the necessary steps are taken to achieve the aim and objectives.
In the first part, some background information is given around the subject of this thesis: I information about acrylamide and its associated health risks, II information about the Maillard reaction and the formation routes for acrylamide, III information about the production process of potato crisps and strategies for acrylamide reduction and IV information about modeling.
The second part deals with the development of mechanistic models. The main mechanism of acrylamide formation is the Maillard reaction between reducing sugars and asparagine.
The technique of multiresponse modeling was used to unravel the reaction networks of the formation of acrylamide in the Maillard reaction using aqueous reaction systems. With the kinetic models, the fate of reactants, intermediates and main products could be estimated, giving more insight into the reaction network for the formation of acrylamide in a quantitative way. Furthermore, these models have shown that acrylamide is an intermediate in the Maillard reaction and that at high temperatures the Maillard reaction rapidly goes into the advanced stages, forming high amounts of organic acids and high molecular weight melanoidins.
In the third part, the use of empirical models was tested to describe and predict the formation of acrylamide in real foods, i.e. potato crisps. Empirical models, with the Logistic-Exponential model as the best performing model, can model the formation of acrylamide in potato crisps. By improving the precision of the estimated parameters these models can be used to make predictions for acrylamide formation based on precursor knowledge and can therefore be a promising tool for the crisps industry to mitigate acrylamide formation.
In conclusion, the work described in this thesis has contributed to insights in modeling the kinetics of acrylamide formation and contributes to the development of strategies to lower acrylamide formation in food.