Determination of acrylamide exposure arising from the some baby foods used for toddler nutrition

Acrylamide is a thermal processing contaminant that is generated in foods and classified as a Group 2A cancerogen by IARC. Arylamide that can be generated in many daily consumed foods is found at high levels in the foods that are used for toddler nutrition. The aim of the study is the determination of dietary acrylamide exposure levels of 1-3 years toddlers that live in a specified region. For this purpose, a food questionnaire is applied to 302 family in the region of Uncalı and in the village of Çığlık in Antalya. Depending on the questionnaire results, acrylamide rich food groups that are commonly consumed by toddlers are determined and different samples from these groups are analyzed to determine acrylamide levels. The food groups that are analyzed and sample sizes are baby biscuits (33), bread types (43), rusk types (9), crackers (30), biscuits (27), breakfast cereals (13) and powdered baby foods (7).The acrylamide in foods is extracted by analytical methods and then derivatized by bromination process. Derivative of acrylamide is analyzed in the Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) and the levels of acrylamide in foods are determined. Recovery of the method is %83 ± 3.51. Limit of detection (LOD) and Limit of Quantification (LOQ) are determined as 7.46 µg/kg and 24.88 µg/kg, respectively.The mean acrylamide levels in food groups are 604 µg/kg in crackers, 495 µg/kg in biscuits, 290 µg/kg in breakfast cereals, 225 µg/kg in bread types, 153 µg/kg in baby biscuits, 121 µg/kg in rusks and 36 µg/kg in powdered baby foods.Acrylamide exposure levels are determined by deterministic approach. The consumption amounts of each food group by toddlers, mean acrylamide levels in these food groups and toddler?s body weight parameters are used in the determination of exposure levels.The obtained results show that the mean acrylamide exposure of the 1-3 years toddlers in the research is 1.43 µg acrylamide/kg body weight/day.As a result, this process contaminant is found in the daily consumed foods by toddlers at various levels. Especially, toddlers are vulnerable to that kind of contaminants. Also due to the lower body weight of toddlers their daily intake per body weight is higher than adults. Therefore, commonly consumed foods by toddlers should be monitored regularly, acrylamide levels in these foods should be decreased and reduction of exposure levels of toddlers should be provided.