How do culinary practices affect acrylamide level and quality in schnitzels? A health risk assessment study among an Iranian university population

Abstract

Acrylamide (AA) is known as a food contaminant, with the possibility of causing cancer in humans, which is formed after heating some foods like breaded-fried foods. In this study, the effect of cooking methods including oven-cooking, deep-frying, and pan-frying on amount of AA in schnitzels was measured by HPLC-UV. Additionally, health risk assessment for university staff and students at Aja University of Medical Sciences in Iran was estimated. The results showed that, all cooked samples were significantly different in terms of fat, protein, peroxide value, pH, and color (p < 0.05). The free fatty acid (FFA) content was 0.42, 0.96, 0.88, and 0.48% in control raw (CN), deep-fried (DF), pan-fried (PF), and oven-cooked (OC) schnitzels, respectively. Acrylamide was detected only in DF (83.33 µg/kg) and PF (32.37 µg/kg) samples. Moreover, the estimated daily intake (EDI) of AA was 0.022 and 0.008 µg/kg.bw.day for the DF and PF samples. The margin of exposure (MOE) results also showed that the consumption of deep-fried schnitzels can make us concerned about the carcinogenic properties of AA. Furthermore, the incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) values ​​for DF schnitzels after 7 years of exposure were equal to 1.98 ⋅ 10^− 7 indicating low risk and concern. To conclude, due to the various daily intake sources of AA, it is suggested to use mild treatments like oven cooking instead of deep frying in all university meals.