ACRYLAMIDE IN FRENCH FRIES PREPARED IN AT HOME AND FAST FOOD CONDITIONS

French fries, prepared either at home or in fast food restaurants, are one of the most desired dishes of Romanians and the main contributors to the intake of acrylamide through the diet. The aim of this study was to investigate how the frying in at home and fast food conditions influences the acrylamide level of French fries and to establish a correlation between acrylamide content and the color parameters. Potatoes from the Queen Anne variety and two types of oil (sunflower, palm) were used. Frying in at home conditions was realized in a pan in sunflower and palm oils (103°C for 13-15 minutes) and frying in fast food conditions was performed in a fryer using only palm oil (170°C for 11 minutes). Determination of acrylamide was achieved fallowing the GC-MS/MS method. The level of acrylamide in French fries fried in at home conditions showed higher acrylamide content when the sunflower oil was used (764.58 µg/kg) compared to the samples fried in palm oil (541.65 µg/kg). Also, a variation between the two types of frying was observed when using palm oil and a lower acrylamide level was obtained for French fries fried in at home conditions (541.65 µg/kg) than for potatoes fried in fast food conditions (684.37 µg/kg). For all the samples analyzed the acrylamide content exceeded the benchmark level of 500 µg/kg set by the Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/2158. Linear correlations between acrylamide levels, expressed in % d.m., and the color parameters (L*, a* and b*) were found: as the level of acrylamide increased, the parameters L* and b* (R2 = 0.80) decreased, and a* increased (R2 = 0.68).