Evaluación del riesgo toxicológico de la acrilamida del café de las marcas más consumidas en la zona urbana de la ciudad de Cuenca

Abstract

One of the steps in the production of granulated soluble coffee is the toasting of coffee beans at high temperature. This procedure leads to the formation of the toxic acrylamide, through the so-called Maillard reaction. Based on this, the search aimed to evaluate the toxicological risk of acrylamide in coffee of the most consumed brands in the urban area of Cuenca. Based on 384 surveys conducted to adult coffee consumers, the six most preferred brands were found, three for granulated coffee –traditionally known as filtered coffee - and three for soluble coffee. In addition, it was possible to determine the daily amount of coffee consumed by the respondents. Once the most recognized coffee brands in each category were identified, twelve samples were collected by the EPA8032a method modified by chromatography gasses with GC/ECD. In all samples the concentration of acrylamide were below the detectable limit (<0.02 mg/kg), which did not allow adequately establishing the toxicological risk for the consuming population. Likewise, a Margin of Exposure (MOE) greater than 10000 was obtained, which means that the coffee of the studied brands did not represent any toxicological risk of consumption.