Effect of extraction pH on acrylamide content in fresh and stored rye crisp bread

Acrylamide (AA) is a heat-generated food toxicant and from a food safety point of view, it is important that its intake to be reduced as much as possible, and that the quantitative analyses provide reliable and relevant levels. In an experiment designed with added AA precursors (asparagine and fructose), it was found that the yield of alkali-extractable AA in rye crisp bread was on average 37% higher than the yield of water-extractable AA. A strong correlation between water and alkaline extractable AA (R2=0.99) indicated that they were formed from a common precursor(s). The storage of samples for 20 months lead to a decrease in the AA content but did not change the correlation between the AA yield from neutral and alkaline extraction. An experiment with labeled AA, added to the dough, ruled out the possibility that AA released by alkali extraction was bound to or entrapped in the matrix.