Qualitative and quantitative ana lysis of acrylamide in coffee and some of its products

Abstract

Acrylamide is extracted efficiently due to its high polarity and water solubility (Andrzejewski et al., 2004). Nevertheless, the level of extraction is also affected by factors such as water temperature, time of contact with ground coffee and pressure applied, all of which are conditioned by the type of coffee machine used. Levels of acrylamide from 1.7 to 75.0 µg/L have been found in coffee brews prepared with different extraction methods (Andrzejewski et al., 2004; Şenyuva and Gökmen, 2005; Alves et al., 2010; Sirot et al., 2012). In agreement with Alves et al. (2010), it is more realistic to evaluate the exposure to acrylamide by analyzing the beverage rather than the ground coffee before preparation. The aim of this study was to determine levels of acrylamide in coffee acquired from coffee vending machines. These beverages make a significant contribution to the coffee intake outside the home. This research has been intentionally limited to commercially available automatic coffee vending machines placed in busy public areas, such as train and bus stations, hospitals and universities, to estimate the exposure in real life conditions where the consumer does not have any impact on the preparation of the drink. Finally, the dietary exposure to acrylamide by the Spanish population through coffee machines was estimated.