Page 41 - FoodFocusThailand No.215 FEBRUARY 2024

SPECIAL FOCUS

One agency that has constantly been focusing on the polysaccharides, which consist of 0.2-0.5 percent of
risk of acrylamide contamination in food and has played an monosaccharides such as fructose, glucose, galactose, and
active role in establishing national reference levels is the arabinose, 3-7 percent of oligosaccharides such as sucrose,
European Commission (EC). In 2013, the EU regulation EC raffinose, and stachyose, and 34-44 percent of insoluble
(2013/647/EU) concerning the levels of acrylamide in food polysaccharides (Mussatto et al., 2011). The analytical data
stipulated that the reference levels of acrylamide for roasted regarding the correlation between sugar and acrylamide levels
and instant coffee should not exceed 450 µg/kg and 900 in coffee are still limited. However, there are some potential
µg/kg, respectively. During 2017-2018, however, these limits studies on the correlation between changes in sugar levels
were lowered by EC (2017/2151/EU) to 400 µg/kg for roasted and acrylamide. Most studies and analyses concerning sugar
coffee and 850 µg/kg for instant coffee (EC, 2018). This levels have used ethanol solution with 50-80% concentration
updated regulation has since been used as one of the EU’s to extract sugar from the samples.
food standards. Notably, in just 5 years, the EU has become The authors’ study on the combined effects of using ethanol
more stringent towards controlling acrylamide in food by to extract sugar and asparaginase to reduce acrylamide
forcing the reference values down by 11 percent, and it will showed that combining these two methods could reduce
possibly be even stricter in the future. acrylamide by 70-90 percent in experimental conditions.
In addition, acrylamide has become the center of debate Ethanol was found to have a specific effect on the production
in some regions. In California, USA, for instance, an eight- and improvement of coffee flavors, which adopted more unique
year lawsuit (from 2010 to 2018) involved some regulatory characteristics than those of the control group. However, coffee
measures that mandated compulsory warning of the potential flavor and quality indicators must be employed to measure
danger of acrylamide, which can be found in processed whether there are positive changes in these qualities after
coffee (El-Zakhem et al., 2018), be included in labeling. coffee beans undergo acrylamide-reduction processes. This
As a result, all commercial coffee brands in the USA, including can be done by analyzing the changes in coffee flavor via
Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, McDonald’s, and approximately standard coffee tests, such as cupping, conducted by coffee
90 other brands, were categorized as brands that offered associations or the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA).
coffee containing carcinogenic acrylamide under the state
laws of California. These brands were deemed negligent Quality Assessment of Roasted Coffee with
towards consumer safety as they did not declare the potential Characteristics Established by SCA
risks of said substance in their product labels. Moreover, The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) is a non-profit
they failed to prove that their coffees were free from organization whose members range from coffee growers to
acrylamide-related harm. Some opined that coffee producers baristas and roasters from all over the world, including those
should preferably try to eliminate acrylamide from their coffee- in the entire coffee chain. SCA must compile know-how of the
roasting process, which would be more beneficial than putting specialty coffee industry and improve international coffee
warning labels on their products. Nevertheless, according standards worldwide. SCA establishes empirical, quantitative
to the report from CBS News in 2018, the court’s verdict measurement standards that set values and value ranges for
mandated that Starbucks and other coffee brands in coffee, which will be assessed from beans and processes to
California put up a warning on their coffee cups to inform water used for brewing or coffee making. Specialty coffee
consumers about this carcinogenic substance, a solution beans must pass the cupping test, which evaluates their
similar to the warnings found on cigarettes. respective properties through bean selection, grinding,
distillation, and brewing. Specialty coffee has pleasant and
Methods to Reduce Acrylamide in Coffee stable tastes and is assessed by cuppers or Q graders, who
In the past few years, several studies on the reduction of can certify that the coffee has undergone a high-quality process
acrylamide in coffee have been conducted. For instance, and passed the tests regarding coffee bean production, quality
acrylamide in roasted coffee beans could be extracted control, aroma, color, and taste. The overall score of a special
through the Supercritical CO technique, which could reduce coffee must exceed 80 out of 100 and pass all 10 assessment
2
acrylamide by 79 percent (Banchero et al., 2013), and
vacuum roasting also pushed acrylamide levels down by 50
percent (Anese et al., 2014). Additionally, the fermentation
of S. cerevisiae was found to reduce acrylamide in instant
coffee by 70 percent. (Akıllıoglu and Gökmen, 2014). One
of the most popular techniques is the reduction of acrylamide
precursors using asparaginase – an enzyme that is produced
by Aspergillus niger mold and can be used for hydrolysis of
asparagine amino acid, which is an acrylamide precursor
formed during roasting process. This technique effectively
decreased acrylamide in coffee beans by 10-45 percent
(Banchero et al., 2013) and 69-86 percent (Porto et al., 2019).
Nonetheless, the techniques’ effects on acrylamide
depend on the relationship levels between acrylamide and
its precursors. Several reports show that acrylamide
formation in cereals, such as rye and wheat, is proportional
to the amounts of asparagine amino acid, while sugar
concentration is proportionally associated with the intensity
of acrylamide formation in potato samples (Xu et al., 2016).
On average, coffee beans contain 50 percent of

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