ACRYLAMIDE LEVELS IN HEAT-TREATED EGYPTIAN FOODS

This study was conducted to determine the acrylamide levels in selected heat-treated food items, commercially determine foods from the egyptian market as with some home-prepared foods as part of the traditional ways of food preparation to study the impact of the temperature and time on formation of acrylamide which classified as a group 2a carcinogen by the international agency for research on cancer that affect the human nervous system. acrylamide levels were determined in around 70 food samples using liquid chromatography coupled to u.v spectrometric detection lc-uv and the results were expressed in μg kg^-1. the food items were also subjected to the relevant high-temperature>120°c or contain high carbohydrates and asparagines as well as those exposed during the processing to high temperatures. the investigated samples included cereal productssnack, rice, pasta noodles, tuberssweet potato, nuts almonds, pine nuts and chestnut & legume, vegetables potatoes, onion,dried fruitsraisins, dates& prunes,,sauces and beverages coffee, cocoa . roasting and frying experiments under different process conditions were done on potatoes, sweet potato, pasta, rice, corn and noodles which represents a different preparation ways showed that acrylamide increases with the length of exposure to heat; surface color browning as an indicator of acrylamide levels in some foods; and that time has a much stronger effect on acrylamide formation than temperature. the obtained results showed that the acrylamide content ranged from < 11-1845 µg/kg. highest acrylamide concentrations were found in roasted nuts, while only moderate acrylamide contents were found in dried fruits and roasted bakery product. while the lowest value were in fried sweet and bean flafel.