Acrylamide Occurrence in Iranian Biscuits and Its Potential Risk of Exposure

Acrylamide is a chemical that can form in some foods during high-temperature cooking processes and is a known carcinogen according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Since biscuit consumption is high amongst Iranians, especially children, and there is a risk of exposure to hazardous compounds such as acrylamide, the purpose of this study is to investigate the amount of acrylamide in some types of biscuits. In this study, graphene (G) modified with magnetite (Fe₃O₄) and sol-gel hybrid tetraethoxysilane methyltrimethoxysilane (TEOS-MTMOS) or MSPE (magnetic solid phase extraction) and GC/MS (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry) method was used to measure acrylamide. The calibration curve, LOD (detection limit), LOQ (quantification limit), RSD (Relative standard deviation), recovery, and linear r ² (correlation coefficient) were 0-200 ng/g, 19 μg/kg, 58 μg/kg, 9.64%, 96%, and 0.9982, respectively. The results displayed that the highest level was observed in the biscuits sample with cardamom essential oil (9.01 mg/kg) and the lowest level was observed in the saffron biscuits sample (0.15 mg/kg). According to the results, the mean ± SD of all samples was 1.739 ± 0.830 mg/kg, which being higher than 0.35 mg/kg can be higher than the EU (European Union) standard level. Our results also indicated that biscuits containing essential oil (mean = 4.510 mg/kg) were more contaminated than biscuits containing natural additives (mean = 0.806 mg/kg). Monte Carlo simulation results showed the THQ (Target Hazard Quotient) and ILCR (Incremental Lifetime Cancer Risk) associated with exposure to acrylamide via biscuits for adults were 2.52E-1 and 2.48E-4; and for children were 8.75E-1 and 8.47E-4, respectively. Uncertain analysis of human health risks by consumption of biscuit samples contaminated with acrylamide showed a serious non-carcinogenic risk (95th percentile; THQ > 1) for children and a carcinogenic risk (ILCR > 1E-4) for children and adults. Consequently, there is a significant carcinogenic risk from biscuit consumption.