Acrylamide determination during an industrial roasting process of coffee and the influence of asparagine and low molecular weight sugars

The formation and partial degradation of acrylamide (AA), asparagine and low molecular weight sugars were evaluated during an industrial coffee roasting process, in which the temperature increased from 90° to about 215 °C. Arabica and Robusta varieties were roasted individually. AA content reached the maximum value at 10 min, corresponding to a temperature of 175–177 °C (1045 ± 28 and 795 ± 25 μg kg−1 for Arabica and Robusta, respectively). Successively, AA content decreased very quickly and at 14 min (203–205 °C) its concentration was lower than the benchmark level of 400 μg kg−1 for roast coffee set by the EU Commission Regulation (2017/2158). In the final product, AA content was close to 300 μg kg−1. Asparagine quickly decreased; contrary, the concentration of fructose and glucose increased reaching their maximum value at 12 min. Then, a quick degradation occurred; their increase could be mainly due to the hydrolysis of sucrose, which decreased in the same period.