Mitigation of acrylamide by cations in Chinese fried bread, youtiao

Abstract

Youtiao, which is a deep-fried bread consisting of two twisted sticks, is commonly consumed as breakfast in China. The present work aimed to investigate the effect of the addition of KCl, CaCl2, and MgCl2 into flour on the acrylamide (AA) contents and youtiao quality. Results indicated that the AA contents in youtiao decreased by 10.0 ~ 71.0% depending on cation type and amount. The AA contents were negatively correlated with the amount of cations (r = -0.704, p = 0.0230). However, cation addition caused up to 36.8% of increase (maximum) in the content of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). Cations had little effect on the moisture content, oil uptake, or texture properties of youtiao, but it rendered colour of youtiao less attractive (albeit still within the acceptable range). However, adding 20 mmol or more cations led to youtiao tasting bitter. Therefore, 20 mmol was suggested as the maximum addition amount for mitigating AA in youtiao.