Minimizing acrylamide in food
The cooperative research project on minimizing acrylamide in potato and cereal products has been successfully concluded
Since the first publications on the presence of the health-risk substance acrylamide in heated food in April 2002, a number of national and international studies have been conducted on this subject. The German food industry through the Research Group of the German Food Industry (FEI) and the German Federation of Food Law and Food Science (BLL) also initiated such a research project from 2003 to 2005, sponsored within the scope of the program for promoting joint industrial research (IGF) by the Federal Ministry for Economy and Technology (BMWI) via AiF (AiF108 ZBG). Within the scope of this already concluded project, new findings on the mechanism of acrylamide formation in food as well as possible ways of influencing the formation by recipe and processing parameters were collected. Based on these results, numerous technological aspects for minimizing the formation of acrylamide could be shown and tested on a laboratory scale.
A list of publications on the results of this first project as well as a survey on the transfer measures of the project’s results is available here
Added to this, a summary of the main results of the first project is available for download here (PDF format):"Development of New Technologies to Minimize Acrylamide in Food"
The next step and therefore the main topic of the recently concluded project (AiF 209 ZBG) was the industrial implementation of such minimization approaches. This should allow for a significant reduction to exposure of consumers with the improved availability of heated but acrylamide-reduced food. One main criterion was to maintain the familiar and expected high quality of these products, e.g. in terms of browning and crispness for the consumers.
Within the scope of this project, the necessary parameters for the development of equipment for the production of high quality potato and cereal products with reduced and defined acrylamide contents were determined. Focus was placed on:
| the development of process engineering data for production equipment for par-fried French fries with reduced acrylamide formation potential as well as for the production of restructured potato products with increased variations in the composition of raw materials. |
| novel approaches for the control of household and restaurant frying equipment in terms of reducing the acrylamide content in fried French fries while maintaining optimum quality. |
| novel baking process for the sustainable reduction of the acrylamide content in bread and small baked goods as well as in gingerbread. |
Included in this work were investigations on the bio-availability of the acrylamide formed in food as one of the open queries regarding the sustainable evaluation of the health relevance of this substance and on chemical processes during the heating of food products.
These highly complex issues were processed in four research institutes with different competence fields which supplement each other.
Research institutes involved
| DIL Deutsches Institut für Lebensmitteltechnik e. V. |
| ILU Institut für Lebensmittel- und Umweltforschung e.V. |
| TU KL Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Fachbereich Chemie |
| DFA Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Lebensmittelchemie |
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The project had a time span of 27 months and ended on 30.06.2008. The project was promoted with funds from the Industrial Collective Research (German Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology/AiF) via the Research Association of the German Food Industry (FEI) Bonn (AiF project no 209 ZBG). From the industrial side, the project was supported by the food industry as well as the machine and equipment manufacturers industry. The German Federation of Food Law and Food Science (BLL) coordinated the project for the industry as head of the project-related committee.
A short summary of the most important results is available here.
Added to that, a comprehensive overview on the results of all research institutes is available in the English language:
"Development of New Technologies to Minimize Acrylamide in Food"
For publications, lectures or posters compiled within the scope of the project please refer to the following list:
Publikationen und Vorträge zum AiF-FEI Forschungsvorhaben 209ZBG
| Forschungskreis der Ernährungsindustrie e. V. |
| Bund für Lebensmittelrecht und Lebensmittelkunde e.V. |
