Reducing Dietary Acrylamide Exposure from Wheat Products through Crop Management and Imaging

The nutritional safety
of wheat-based food products is
compromised
by the presence of the processing contaminant acrylamide. Reduction
of the key acrylamide precursor, free (soluble, non-protein) asparagine,
in wheat grain can be achieved through crop management strategies,
but such strategies have not been fully developed. We ran two field
trials with 12 soft (biscuit) wheat varieties and different nitrogen,
sulfur, potassium, and phosphorus fertilizer combinations. Our results
indicated that a nitrogen-to-sulfur ratio of 10:1 kg/ha was sufficient
to prevent large increases in free asparagine, whereas withholding
potassium or phosphorus alone did not cause increases in free asparagine
when sulfur was applied. Multispectral measurements of plants in the
field were able to predict the free asparagine content of grain with
an accuracy of 71%, while a combination of multispectral, fluorescence,
and morphological measurements of seeds could distinguish high free
asparagine grain from low free asparagine grain with an accuracy of
86%. The acrylamide content of biscuits correlated strongly with free
asparagine content and with color measurements, indicating that agronomic
strategies to decrease free asparagine would be effective and that
quality control checks based on product color could eliminate high
acrylamide biscuit products.