In general, heat-processed commercial protein-rich foods,
such as fish, meat, and poultry, contain lower amounts of
acrylamide than do carbohydrate-rich foods, such as French
fries, potato chips, tortilla chips, cereals, and baked goods [3].
The formation of a Schiff base is considered to be the first reaction
step. The reaction is initiated by the addition of nucleophilic
asparagine to the partially positive carbonyl carbon of
the dicarbonyl compound, followed by the loss of a proton
from nitrogen and the addition of a proton to oxygen [9].
Several strategies for reducing the formation of acrylamide
in heated foods have been proposed in recent years, including
the following: adding divalent cations such as calcium salts
[10,11]; replacing reducing sugars with nonreducing sugars
such as sucrose [12e14]; diluting asparagine levels by adding
glycine [15]; adding asparaginase to reduce free asparagine
[16,17]; and substituting ammonium salts with baking
powder [18].
Jung et al [19] demonstrated that acrylamide formation in
corn chips (baked and fried) and French fries was reduced
when an acidulant was added to lower pH values. Amrein et al
[14] suggested that free asparagine levels are a limiting factor
in acrylamide formation.
To better understand the interactions that occur when
fortified shrimp chips are deep-fried, we supplemented the
standard chips recipe with calcium lactate, calcium carbonate,
calcium citrate, or calcium acetate in order to determine
the roles of calcium salts and reducing sugars in the formation
of acrylamide. The quality of traditional puffed shrimp chips
versus shrimp chips fortified with calcium salts was evaluated
in order to develop better strategies for reducing the acrylamide
content of snack products.