Renaissance Ingredients’ non-genetically modified organism (GMO) acrylamide-reducing (AR) baker’s yeast strains (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) have been found to reduce acrylamide by up to 95% in a variety of food products by degrading the precursor compound asparagine.
In the laboratory test in both white and whole wheat bread and toast, the use of AR baker’s yeast delivered an average reduction in acrylamide of 80% relative to conventional baker’s yeast.
This reduction was observed in the bread prior to toasting, as well as across three degrees of toasting (low, medium and high/dark).
There were no changes to the bread-making or baking processes other than the use of AR yeast were required in order to achieve these reductions.
“We are exceptionally pleased with the consistency exhibited by our AR yeast in reducing acrylamide across all levels of toasting,” said president Dr. Matthew Dahabieh.
“In most cases, the acrylamide content of toasted bread made with our AR yeast is less than that of untoasted bread made with conventional baker’s yeast.”
“Essentially, our AR yeast eliminates the acrylamide potential of toasting conventional bread.”
Acrylamide levels in toasted bread
Cooking at high temperatures significantly increases the acrylamide content of food.
For example, in Renaissance’s tests, white bread baked with conventional yeast contained 30 parts per billion (ppb) of acrylamide, while dark toast made from the same bread increased the acrylamide content by 6.5 times to 195 ppb.
In whole wheat bread, dark toast had higher acrylamide levels of 8.9 times (34 ppb in bread increases to 301 ppb in dark toast).
However, when produced with AR yeast, dark toast made from the white and whole wheat bread (that contained 5 ppb prior to toasting) contained 36 ppb and 65 ppb of acrylamide, respectively, after toasting.
“Our studies show that common restaurant and consumer cooking practices can result in highly elevated levels of acrylamide in toasted bread,” said Dr Dahabieh.
“However, our data also show that AR yeast has the ability to mitigate this ‘acrylamide potential’ in baked goods without any changes to the cooking process.”
“This greatly reduces the health risk that acrylamide formed during cooking poses to end consumers.”
“We are now looking to work with collaborative partners at the pilot and industrial scale to confirm and refine the efficacy of AR yeast in these settings.”
AR yeast applications
Renaissance Ingredients’ AR yeast strains are traditional baker’s yeast that consumes the amino acid asparagine, the precursor to acrylamide.
In baked goods in which yeast has been used as an ingredient, AR yeast can seamlessly replace conventional baker’s yeast with no disruption to the baking process.
It can also be used in foods in which yeast is not normally an ingredient.
The company has conducted numerous successful studies on the feasibility of using AR yeast in novel ways for foods containing yeast extract, chemically leavened foods, or foods exposed to soaking steps during processing.
These foods include potato-based products such as potato chips and fries, savory snack foods, cereal products and coffee.
Acrylamide
A World Health Organization Group IIA carcinogen, acrylamide has been shown to be mutagenic and neurotoxic in a variety of laboratory animal studies.
In 2002, acrylamide was identified in a range of common foods, including bread, toast, potato chips, fries, cereals and coffee.
Acrylamide is not added to food, but forms naturally from the amino acid asparagine when foods are heated above 120 °C (e.g., during baking, roasting or frying).
The European Food Safety Association recently announced its latest risk assessment on the continuing widespread presence of acrylamide in various foods.
This report is one of many indicating that acrylamide is a concern to health agencies worldwide, including the US FDA and Health Canada.
