Furan Occurrence in Starchy Food Model Systems Processed at High Temperatures: Effect of Ascorbic Acid and Heating Conditions María Mariotti,* ,† Kit Granby, ‡ Arvid Fromberg, ‡ Jørgen Risum, ‡ Eduardo Agosin, †,§ and Franco Pedreschi †,§ † Department of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Cató lica de Chile (PUC), Box 306, 6904411 Santiago, Chile ‡ National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Mørkhøj Bygade 19, Søborg, DK-2860 Copenhagen, Denmark § ASIS-UC Interdisciplinary Research Program on Tasty and Healthy Foods, Pontificia Universidad Cató lica de Chile (PUC), Casilla 306, Correo 22 Santiago, Chile ABSTRACT: Furan, a potential carcinogen, has been detected in highly consumed starchy foods, such as bread and snacks; however, research on furan generation in these food matrixes has not been undertaken, thus far. The present study explored the effect of ascorbic acid addition and cooking methods (frying and baking) over furan occurrence and its relation with the non- enzymatic browning in a wheat flour starchy food model system. Results showed that furan generation significantly increased in the presence of ascorbic acid after 7 min of heating (p < 0.05). The strongest effect was observed for baked products. Additionally, the furan content in fried products increased with the increase of the oil uptake levels. As for Maillard reactions, in general, the furan level in all samples linearly correlated with their degree of non-enzymatic browning, represented by L* and a* color parameters (e.g., wheat flour baked samples showed a R 2 of 0.88 and 0.87 for L* and a*, respectively), when the sample moisture content decreased during heating. KEYWORDS: Furan, starchy food model system, ascorbic acid, oil uptake, moisture, non-enzymatic browning ■ INTRODUCTION Furan is a potential human carcinogen that can be formed in a broad range of foods processed at high temperatures, such as coffee, baby foods, bread, and snacks. 1 Although it is still unclear what the risks are associated with the current intake levels of dietary furan, furan mitigation in foods may be considered a challenge in the prevention of human diseases, such as cancer. 2 The presence of furan is common in foods processed at high temperatures, particularly in products packed in sealed contain- ers (e.g., baby foods). Because of its low boiling point, furan generated during thermal processes easily vaporized, accumulat- ing in the headspace of canned or jarred foods. 3 However, despite its high volatility, furan has also been found in low-moisture foods processed in open containers, such as potato chips, crackers, crisp breads, and toasted breads. 3-6 The broad number of foods that have been shown to contain furan suggests that multiple pathways might be involved in its formation in foods. 7 Thermal degradation and rearrangement of sugars was suggested as the primary source of furan in food; 8 more recently, amino acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), and ascorbic acid have also been implicated. 1,3,6,8-11 The latter formed the highest amount of furan in aqueous model systems heated at high temperature. It is worth noting that the furan content determined in foods was much lower than predicted from trials with pure ascorbic acid. Therefore, caution must be drawn about the plausibility of the proposed pathways for furan formation determined in model systems and their direct extrapolation to the more complex food products. 12 Few authors have evaluated furan generation in more real sys- tems that considered the interaction between potential pre- cursors. Limacher et al. 13 and Van Lancker et al. 14 determined furan formation from the Maillard reaction in carbon module labeling (CAMOLA) model systems under both dry-roasting and pressure-cooking conditions. They concluded that glucose- derived furan was formed from the intact sugar skeleton and not from fragmentation and recombination mechanisms. However, some amino acids (especially alanine and serine) could provide an additional formation pathway, as previously proposed. 15 The role of ascorbic acid and PUFAs on furan occurrence has recently been investigated 16 in starchy model systems that mimic baby foods. The authors showed that, for CAMOLA model sys- tems heated under roasting conditions, the furan formation from ascorbic acid was significantly reduced in binary mixtures (e.g., the presence of erythrose led to 80% less furan). These results agreed with previous findings, in which simple binary mixtures of ascorbic acid and amino acids, sugars, or lipids could reduce furan by 50-95%. 17 Thus, more complex reaction systems result in lower furan generation, as compared to the individual precursors, most likely because of competing reaction pathways. Owczarek- Fendor et al. 18 observed, however, that the presence of starch drastically enhanced furan formation from ascorbic acid. They hypothesized that furan synthesis was stimulated when ascorbic acid was incorporated in the starchy gel (inclusion complex); Received: May 24, 2012 Revised: September 12, 2012 Accepted: September 17, 2012 Published: September 17, 2012 Article pubs.acs.org/JAFC © 2012 American Chemical Society 10162 dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf3022699 | J. Agric. Food Chem. 2012, 60, 10162-10169