NOTE Mitigating effect of calcium and magnesium on acrylamide formation in tortilla chips Ger onimo Ar ambula-Villa 1 | Ver onica Flores-Casamayor 1 | Jos e Juan Vel  es-Medina 1 | Ricardo Salazar 2 1 Centro de Investigaci on y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Polit  ecnico Nacional (CINVESTAV IPN), Unidad Quer etaro, Quer etaro, M exico 2 CONACyT-Universidad Aut onoma de Guerrero, Chilpancingo de los Bravo, Guerrero, M exico Correspondence Ricardo Salazar, CONACyT-Universidad Aut onoma de Guerrero, Chilpancingo de los Bravo, Guerrero, M exico. Email: rsalazarlo@conacyt.mx Abstract Background and objectives: The effectiveness of calcium and magnesium, as CaCl 2 and MgCl 2 , respectively, to reduce acrylamide formation in tortilla chips fried in soybean oil during 30 s at 190°C was evaluated. Findings: Acrylamide was reduced 69%, 70%, and 74% by adding 0.04, 0.08, and 0.12 M of MgCl 2 solutions to prepare the masa, compared with the reduc- tions in 52%, 67%, and 52% obtained using 0.04, 0.08, and 0.12 M of CaCl 2 , respectively. The color, oil absorption, and the fracture force of tortilla chips using CaCl 2 were similar to those of the control. In contrast, tortilla chips with added MgCl 2 were darker and not as hard as the control. Conclusions: The use of salts such as CaCl 2 or MgCl 2 is a reliable and effective acrylamide mitigation strategy in tortilla-chip production. Significance and novelty: The use of calcium or magnesium salts during masa preparation can be a simple, inexpensive, and effective way to mitigate acry- lamide formation during the processing of tortilla chips and other thermally pro- cessed maize-based foods that are widely consumed by the population. KEYWORDS acrylamide mitigation, calcium, magnesium, tortilla chips 1 | INTRODUCTION Tortilla chips have gained importance and acceptability worldwide in recent years. In Mexican cuisine, they are prepared from stale tortillas that are reheated until toasted on a cast iron hot plate or partially fried or baked (Gonz alez-Amaro, De Dios Figueroa-C ardenas, Perales, & Ve  les-Medina, 2017). Despite the popularity of tortilla chips, there are few studies on acrylamide content in this type of food (Salazar et al., 2014). According to Ferlay et al. (2015), an estimated 8.2 million cancer-related deaths occurred in 2012; consequently, factors such as the pres- ence of toxic compounds in foods have gained widespread attention. Acrylamide is a neurotoxic and a probably human carcinogen molecule formed in relatively high con- centrations when carbohydrate-rich foods are processed at high temperatures (Riboldi, Vinhas, & Moreira, 2014). Acrylamide is produced by the degradation of asparagine in the presence of carbohydrates and carbonyl compounds through Maillard-type reactions (Zamora, Delgado, & Hidalgo, 2015). Salazar, Ar ambula-Villa, V azquez-Landaverde, Hidalgo, and Zamora (2012); Salazar, Ar  ambula-Villa, Hidalgo, and Zamora (2012) reported a significant reduction in acry- lamide in tortilla chips employing an amaranth protein iso- late as well as piquin chili pepper oleoresin. However, their use can be limited to the availability of the plant sources. In this regard, the use of divalent cations has been reported as a feasible approach for reducing acrylamide in model systems and real food samples (Ac ßar, Pollio, Di Monaco, Fogliano, & G€ okmen, 2012; G€ okmen & S ß enyuva, 2007b). The divalent cations could prevent the formation of the Received: 24 August 2017 | Accepted: 2 November 2017 DOI: 10.1002/cche.10009 94 | © 2017 AACC International wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cche Cereal Chemistry. 2018;95:94–97.