The Risk of Acrylamide Intake from Roasted Arabica Coffee (Pure, Torrefacto and Soluble) Consumed in Costa Rica

Abstract

Acrylamide (AA) is a contaminant with carcinogenic and genotoxic properties that occur in heat-produced food products. This study aimed to evaluate the occurrence of AA in different coffee products commercially sold in retail markets of Costa Rica and to develop a probabilistic exposure assessment model to assess the potential human health risk due to its consumption. The average AA concentration in the coffee samples analyzed (n = 110) was 110.29 ± 151.61 µg kg−1 . The mean dietary exposure (DE) values, for the middle-bound (MB) approach, varied from 0.025 to 0.083 µg kg−1 BW per day. The margin of exposure (MOE) was calculated with a BDML10: 430 µg kg−1 BW day−1 for neurotoxicity and 170 µg kg−1 BW day−1 for cancer effect, according to EFSA (2015). No neurotoxicity risk was identified as MOE values ranged from 4291 to 467,984 for the adult male population, from 4566 to 477,203 for the adult females, from 4265 to 506,062 for the male minors and from 2512 to 495,151 for the female minors. On the other hand, MOE values for the carcinogenic risk were below 10,000 for the mean and P95th coffee consumers, denoting a possible health concern. The values ranged from 1696 to 6717 for the adult male population, from 1805 to 7201 for the female adults, from 1686 to 6304 for the male minors and from 993 to 2155 for the female minors. The mean incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) values for male adult, female adult, male minor, and female minor were 1.7 × 10−5 , 1.6 × 10−5 , 1.9 × 10−5 , and 3.9 × 10−5 , respectively, for the MB approach. These results denote a potential or considerable risk in consumption of coffee due to AA intake. Thus, no neurotoxicity risk was identified; however, a potential carcinogenic risk was observed based on MOE and ILCR results.