LC-MS/MS Tracks Acrylamide Cuts in Popcorn

A chemical that forms during food processing and may raise cancer risk, acrylamide (AA) is a concern in snacks like popcorn that go through high heat, especially since children often eat a lot of popcorn. A recent study looked at three different pre-treatment methods to see how well each one could reduce AA levels in popcorn before popping. Using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), the researchers measured AA levels across nine different treatment combinations. A paper based on this work was published in the journal Foods.¹

What Is Acrylamide, and Why Is It a Health Concern in Foods Like Popcorn?

In recent years, people have become increasingly concerned about AA, a substance that may raise cancer risk and shows up in everyday foods like bread, fried potatoes, coffee, and popcorn.^2,3 AA forms through a chemical reaction called the Maillard reaction, which happens when certain sugars and an amino acid called asparagine react with each other at high temperatures (above 120 °C). This same reaction is also responsible for giving many carb-heavy foods their appealing brown color and flavor when they're cooked.^4,5 Health experts at the International Agency for Research on Cancer have classified AA as "probably cancer-causing in humans," and on top of the cancer concerns, exposure to AA has also been linked to potential harm to the nervous system and reproductive health.⁶Although researchers have not yet been able to definitively prove these effects in humans, the European Food Safety Authority has still flagged AA as a potential public health concern.^7.8On its own, AA does not directly damage DNA, but once it is processed by the body, it gets converted into a different form called glycidamide. This byproduct can bind directly to DNA, and this kind of damage can lead to permanent mutations, which may eventually contribute to the development of cancer.¹Despite these health concerns, there are currently no strict legal limits on how much AA can be in food. The European Commission has set benchmark levels for several types of food, like French fries, potato chips, and cereal, but popcorn and other corn-based snacks aren't included, so there are no specific guidelines for them yet.⁹Still, a 2019 recommendation from the European Commission does single out cereal-based snacks, including popcorn and extruded corn products, as important foods to keep an eye on when it comes to AA levels. Because there's no official regulation covering these products yet, it highlights the need for more focused research into AA levels in popcorn, along with practical, easy-to-scale-up ways to reduce it.¹⁰

Which Pre-Treatment Methods Were Most Effective at Reducing AA Levels in Popcorn, and What Tradeoffs Did They Involve?

For this study, popcorn kernels were pre-treated using three different methods: pulsed electric fields (PEF), ultrasound (USN) and soaking. The researchers found that all three methods significantly cut down on AA formation. Soaking for 20 minutes and using ultrasound for 20 minutes worked best, both reducing AA levels by more than 82%. The strongest version of the pulsed electric field treatment reduced AA by 71%, though its results varied more from batch to batch, likely because popcorn kernels are so dense and can be tricky to treat evenly. Importantly, while soaking and ultrasound were the most effective at drawing out AA-forming compounds, going longer than 20 minutes with either method ended up making the kernels too waterlogged, which hurt how well the popcorn popped and negatively affected its texture.¹

“These results,” write the authors of the paper,¹ “define the critical processing window for industry, balancing toxicological safety with product quality.”

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References

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2. Sebastià, A.; Pallarés, N.; Bridgeman, L. et al.A Critical Review of Acrylamide Green Extraction and Determination in Food Matrices: Current Insights and Future Perspectives. TrAC Trends Anal. Chem. 2023, 167, 117267. DOI: 10.1016/j.trac.2023.117267
3. Hamzalıoğlu, A.; Mogol, B.A.; Gökmen, V. Acrylamide: An Overview of the Chemistry and Occurrence in Foods; In Encyclopedia of Food Chemistry; Elsevier, 2019; pp. 492–499.
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7. European Food Safety Authorty (EFSA). Statement on Summary Report on Acrylamide in Food of the 64th Meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives by the Scientific Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM). EFSA J. 2005, 3, 619. DOI: 10.2903/j.efsa.2005.619
8. Yan, F.; Wang, L.; Zhao, L. et al. Acrylamide in Food: Occurrence, Metabolism, Molecular Toxicity Mechanism and Detoxification by Phytochemicals. Food Chem. Toxicol. 2023, 175, 113696. DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2023.113696
9. European Commission. Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/2158 of 20 November 2017 Establishing Mitigation Measures and Benchmark Levels for the Reduction of the Presence of Acrylamide in Food. Off. J. Eur. Union 2017, 304, 24–44. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2017/2158/oj/eng
10. European Commission. Commission Recommendation (EU) 2019/1888 of 7 November 2019 on the Monitoring of the Presence of Acrylamide in Certain Foods. Off. J. Eur. Union 2019, 62, 31–33. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reco/2019/1888/oj/eng