Reassessment of acrylamide content in breakfast cereals. Evolution of the Spanish market from 2006 to 2018

Breakfast cereals are important contributors to acrylamide daily exposure in Western countries. Acrylamide was determined by LC-ESI-MS/MS in 60 commercial breakfast cereals marketed in Spain. The influence of the predominant cereal, protein, fibre and sugar content, as well as the presence of honey and the manufacturing process on the acrylamide levels was evaluated. The mean acrylamide content was 118 mu g/kg (from < 20 to 639 mu g/kg). The group of breakfast cereals formulated with kamut, spelt, and wheat reported the higher levels (639, 201 and 197 mu g/kg, respectively). The type of processing significantly affected the occurrence of acrylamide, being higher in puffed cereals (167 mu g/kg) than in flaked ones (79 mu g/kg). The majority (85%) samples were below the benchmark level established by the EU Regulation 2017/2158. Acrylamide occurrence in breakfast cereals marketed in Spain has greatly decreased since 2006 (60%), leading to a reduction of the contribution of breakfast cereals to the overall exposure to the population from 1.02 mu g/day to 0.54 mu g/day. Despite this progress, more efforts are needed to continue the acrylamide mitigation until levels as low as reasonably possible since no tolerable intake could be established for a carcinogenic and genotoxic compound.