Yeast ingredient reduces acrylamide content by up to 90%

Photo from Kerry Group

With more consumers, and therefore more companies, seeking to eliminate the presence of acrylamide in food and beverage products due to carcinogenic concerns, two companies have introduced a new yeast ingredient that can help formulators reduce acrylamide content by up to 90%. Flavors and ingredients firm Kerry (Naas, Ireland) has partnered with Renaissance BioScience, a Canadian firm specializing in novel, yeast-based technologies, to introduce a trademarked ingredient called Acryleast. Acryleast is a clean-label, non-GMO yeast rich in the enzyme asparaginase, which helps reduce acrylamide levels that can be found in foods like biscuits, crackers, French fries, potato crisps, and coffee and infant food.

Tools to reduce acrylamide content are in line with newly emerging regulations, globally, to limit acrylamide content in foods and beverages. Kerry says Acryleast has been tested for efficacy.

Matthew May, Kerry’s bakery lead for Europe and Russia, said, “We repeatedly tested Acryleast’s effectiveness in reducing acrylamide levels across a range of biscuit and cracker applications. This involved testing in both our own laboratories and in scaled-up plant trials, where reductions of greater than 90% were achieved. Importantly, these trials also demonstrated no impact on taste or texture, confirming that Acryleast is a very effective and versatile solution for acrylamide reduction, that requires no or minimal changes to existing manufacturing processes.”