title: Acrylamide content distribution and possible alternative ingredients for snack foods.
abstract: Acrylamide (AA) contents in 294 snack foods including cereal-based, root- and tuber-based, and seafood-based foods, nuts, dried beans, and dried fruits purchased in Taiwan were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in this study. The highest levels of average AA content  were found in root- and tuber-based snack foods (435 μg/kg), followed by cereal-based snack foods (299 μg/kg). Rice flour-based, seafood-based, and dried fruit snack foods had the lowest average AA content (<50 μg/kg). This is the first large surveillance of AA content in  snack foods in Taiwan. The results could provide important data regarding intake information from the snack foods. In addition, the results showed a great diversity of AA content in snack foods prepared from different ingredients. Rice- and seafood-based products had much lower AA than those  made from other ingredients. This information could constitute a good reference for consumers to select products for healthy snacking.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Food Science and Technology, National Taiwan University, 1, Roosevelt Road, Section 4, Taipei, 10617 Taiwan. nickcheng@fda.gov.tw
authors.forename: Wei Chih
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: De Chao
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Shin Shou
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.forename: An I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Yeh
mesh_terms: D020106:Acrylamide / Q000032:analysis*; D003257:Consumer Product Safety; D005504:Food Analysis / Q000379:methods; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D059022:Food Safety; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D013624:Taiwan
chemical_list: D020106:Acrylamide