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. 2025 May 30:28:102605.
doi: 10.1016/j.fochx.2025.102605. eCollection 2025 May.

Mitigation of acrylamide in cookies and crispbread using calcium salts and phenolic acids in combination with asparaginase as well as rosemary extract

Shpresa Musa  1   2 , Claudia Oellig  3 , Katharina Anne Scherf  1   4   2
Affiliations

Mitigation of acrylamide in cookies and crispbread using calcium salts and phenolic acids in combination with asparaginase as well as rosemary extract

Shpresa Musa et al. Food Chem X. .

Abstract

Acrylamide is formed during high-temperature treatment in foods and presents a significant health and regulatory challenge. This study evaluates the effects of calcium salts and phenolic acids alone or in combination with asparaginase and rosemary extract in wheat cookies and rye crispbread. Acrylamide content, product color, texture, and sensory properties were assessed. When calcium salts and phenolic acids were used alone, acrylamide was reduced by 46 % and 50 % compared to the control. A combination of these with asparaginase resulted in a reduction of acrylamide by up to 89 % using ellagic acid. Specific treatments reduced cookie hardness, but asparaginase addition reversed this effect. Color mainly remained unaffected. Sensory analysis of selected treatments confirmed no significant changes in cookie aroma, taste, color, texture, and acceptability. This work provides a new approach by combining selected treatments to mitigate acrylamide while preserving product quality.

Keywords: Cereal-based products; Color; Ellagic acid; Gallic acid; Sensory analysis; Texture.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Acrylamide content of wholemeal wheat cookies with the addition of calcium chloride, calcium carbonate, gallic acid, ellagic acid, and rosemary extract. Error bars indicate the standard deviation of the mean, and asterisks indicate a significant difference compared to the respective control (ANOVA with Dunnett's t-test p ≤ 0.05, n = 3). Abbreviations as follows: CaCl2 (calcium chloride), CaCO3 (calcium carbonate), GA (gallic acid), EA (ellagic acid), RE (rosemary extract), R (50 mg/kg of asparaginase Acrylaway L).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Acrylamide content of wholemeal rye crispbread with the addition of calcium chloride, ellagic acid, and rosemary extract. Asterisks indicate a significant difference compared to the control (ANOVA with Dunnett's t-test p ≤ 0.05, n = 2). Abbreviations as follows: CaCl2 (calcium chloride), EA (ellagic acid), RE (rosemary extract), R (50 mg/kg of asparaginase Acrylaway L).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Hardness (N) and fracturability (mm) of wholemeal wheat cookies and rye crispbread with the addition of calcium chloride, calcium carbonate, gallic acid, ellagic acid, and rosemary extract. Error bars indicate the standard deviation of the mean, and asterisks indicate a significant difference compared to the respective control (ANOVA with Dunnett's t-test p ≤ 0.05, n = 6). Abbreviations as follows: CaCl2 (calcium chloride), CaCO3 (calcium carbonate), GA (gallic acid), EA (ellagic acid), RE (rosemary extract), R (50 mg/kg of asparaginase Acrylaway L).
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Sensory evaluation including color, texture, taste, aroma, and overall acceptability for wholemeal wheat cookies. Results are presented as the mean scores of 13 panelists. Samples were analyzed using the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test (p < 0.05) and Dunn's test was used as a post hoc method for pairwise comparisons with control and multiple treatment groups. Abbreviations as follows: CaCl2 (calcium chloride), EA (ellagic acid), RE (rosemary extract), R (50 mg/kg of asparaginase Acrylaway L).
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