Effect of low-temperature long-time pre-treatment of wheat on acrylamide concentration in short dough biscuits

In April 2002, unexpected high levels of the neurotoxic and suspected carcinogen acrylamide (AA) were found in many heated foods, mainly represented by cereal and potato derivatives. Since then, due to the great consumption of dietary sources of AA among people of different ages and in different countries, worldwide efforts have been carried out to reduce the formation of the toxic molecule in foods. In this paper, the effect of a low-temperature long-time pre-treatment of wheat grains on AA formation in biscuits was investigated. Wheat grains were subjected to heating at 100°C for 8 h and subsequently milled. The obtained flour was used to prepare biscuits that were compared for AA content, texture and color with control samples obtained by using flour from unheated wheat. The low-temperature long-time pre-treatment was responsible for a great decrease (up to 42%) in AA levels in the biscuits, without causing significant changes in the color and texture parameters. As the pre-treatment did not cause any change in sugar and asparagine concentrations, such a reduction in AA concentration can be attributed to a difference in the thermal effect generated in the biscuits obtained by using the unheated and pre-heated flours. In fact, as the heating pre-treatment caused a 2% moisture decrease in the flour, less time at the same temperature was required to obtain biscuits with comparable moisture contents.