Processing contaminants in wheat-based foods - a systematic review, meta-analysis and bibliometric analysis

• Published in: Critical reviews in food science and nutrition Vol. 63; no. 22; pp. 5608 - 5619
• Main Authors: Lemos, Andressa Cunha, Borba, Verônica Simões de, Souza, Manuel Cezar Macedo Barbosa Nogueira de, Scaglioni, Priscila Tessmer, Cerqueira, Maristela Barnes, Badiale-Furlong, Eliana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Taylor & Francis 29.08.2023; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: 5-hydroxymethylfurfural; Acrylamide; acrylamides; bibliometric analysis; Bibliometrics; Bread; breads; Cereals; Contaminants; Food; Food consumption; Food contamination; Food safety; Hydroxymethylfurfural; Meta-analysis; nutrition; occurrence; Pasta; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; Process parameters; systematic review; Toxic substances; toxicity; Wheat; wheat-based food; wheat-based food; Acrylamide; occurrence; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; 5-hydroxymethylfurfural
• ISSN: 1040-8398; 1549-7852; 1549-7852
• DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2021.2022594

Wheat is one of the main cereals grown around the world and is the basis for several foods such as bread, cakes and pasta. The consumption of these foods raises a concern with food safety, as toxic substances such as acrylamide, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are formed during their processing. To assess the occurrence of processing contaminants in wheat-based foods, a systematic search was carried out in four databases: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Scopus. Of the 1479 results, 28 were included for a meta-analysis. Most studies (69.7%) evaluated acrylamide in bread, cookies, and pasta, while PAHs (26.2%) were determined mainly in wheat grains and pasta. HMF was the least determined contaminant (4.1%), with only four studies on cookies included in the meta-analysis. The highest concentration was for acrylamide (136.29 µg·kg −1 ) followed by HMF (70.59 µg·kg −1 ) and PAHs (0.11 µg·kg −1 ). Acrylamide is the main processing contaminant researched, and no studies on the subject have been found in commercial samples in some regions of the world. This result shows a gap in the dates available about process contaminants in wheat-based foods and how the levels can change depending on the process parameters and the ingredients used.