Asparaginase treatment for acrylamide reduction in wheat and oat flakes: From laboratory- to pilot-scale

Acrylamide is a contaminant in food that is produced during high-temperature processing. There is a growing need for mitigation strategies due to health concerns and regulatory guidelines. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of four commercial asparaginases in the reduction of acrylamide in wheat and oat flakes, as well as their impact on product quality. Additionally, scale-up experiments were conducted with one of the asparaginases to evaluate the transferability of laboratory-scale results into pilot-scale production for bran flakes. On a laboratory-scale, asparaginase treatment resulted in a higher reduction of acrylamide in oat flakes by 928 µg/kg using PreventASe XR, compared to the wheat flakes, which reduced acrylamide by 360 µg/kg using PreventASe L. These represent a reduction of up to 77 % and 58 %, for oat and wheat flakes, respectively, compared to the control. This is the first study to compare multiple commercial asparaginases across two whole grain matrices in flakes, providing a direct side-by-side evaluation of their performance. Moreover, we demonstrate the challenges of translating enzymatic mitigation from lab to pilot-scale, where acrylamide dropped by only 76 µg/kg, underlining key practical barriers in industrial applications. Minimal impacts on color and texture were observed. Our results contribute new insights into enzyme-based acrylamide reduction and point to the importance of optimizing processing conditions for the application of asparaginases on an industrial scale, benefiting both producers and consumers.