ACRYLAMIDE FORMATION DURING HEAT TREATMENT OF PLANT-BASED MEAT AND CHEESE ALTERNATIVES

Abstract

Plant analogues of animal foods are currently being increasingly produced worldwide to supply the market with alternative products made from plant-based ingredients. In this study, the acrylamide (AA) content was determined by coupled liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry before and after heat treatment of plant-based meat product alternatives (PBMAs; burger patties, steaks, nuggets, schnitzels), authentic meat products (nuggets, strips¸ schnitzels), plant-based cheese alternatives (PBCAs) and authentic cheese. In PBMAs without breadcrumb coating (burgers, steaks), the AA concentrations before as well as after heat treatment remained below the method limit of quantification (20 g/kg), while in PBMAs with breadcrumb coating such as nuggets or schnitzels, frying statistically significantly (p < 0.05) increased the AA content from 28.5 (min-max <20-98) g/kg to 44.5 (28-170) g/kg. A similar trend was observed for authentic meat products with breadcrumb coating – increase of AA after heat treatment from 15.5 (<20-33) g/kg to 36.5 (<20-64) g/kg. In both PBCAs and authentic cheese, frying in breadcrumb coating also increased AA concentrations (to 20.0 (<20-42) g/kg and 31.5 (<20-39) g/kg, respectively). It was found that the source of the AA increase during heat treatment was therefore the breadcrumb coating, not the plant analogues themselves or authentic meat products or cheeses. Only in PBCAs without breadcrumb coating produced from minced almonds, heat treatment increased AA contents to as much as 1,217 g/kg, which is already a high-risk concentration. Our results imply the need for deeper investigation into AA content in heat-treated PBCAs made from minced almonds.