Determination of acrylamide amount of malt flours obtained from different cereal species

Acrylamide amount of wheat, barley and rye malts produced in laboratory conditions were detemined in this study. Malts were produced by roasting at constant temperature of 250 ° C for 7 different times (10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 minutes). The relationship between the amount of acrylamide and the color of malt flour was determined. Acrylamide analysis was performed with high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometer (LC/ESI/MS) and comparison of the stated analytical methods was made.The effect of roasting time on acrylamide amount which analysed by LC/ESI/MS method was found statistically significant. The highest acrylamide amount was observed at malt flours roasted for 10 minutes. However, acrylamide amount was decreased by prolonged process time. Positive correlation was determined between the color characteristics of L*, b* and chroma with roasting time.The interaction between cereal species and roasting time was found statistically significant according to the HPLC results. The highest acrylamide amount which analysed by HPLC method was found in wheat malt roasted for 15 minutes while the lowest one was wheat and barley malts roasted for 40 minutes. Positive correlation was determined between the color characteristics of a* and acrylamide amount of all evaluated cereal species.The datas obtained from HPLC and LC/ESI/MS methods were similiar. It was found out that acrylamide was tend to be reduced due to high temperature and long process time. Consequently, due to the results obtained from two methods, acrylamide amount of wheat malt found significantly higher than malts made from other cereal species.Keywords: Acrylamide, malt flour, temperature, colour.