Acrylamide content in deep-fried snacks from 20 different production sites of South Indian province of Kerala (80 samples representing 4 important product categories) were determined using a modified high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-diode array detector (DAD) method. The limit of detection and the limit of quantification for this method were 1.04 and 3.17 μg/kg, respectively. The mean recoveries of acrylamide obtained by using spiked samples ranged between 90% and 103%, which shows good extraction efficiency. Acrylamide concentrations in the four groups of snacks ranged from 82.0 to 4245.6 µg/kg for potato chips, 46.2-2431.4 µg/kg for jack chips, 24.8-1959.8 µg/kg for sweet plantain chips and 14.7-1690.5 µg/kg for plantain chips. These are the most widely consumed snacks in South India, and the results revealed reasonable levels of acrylamide in these foods, which indicated the general risk of consumer exposure.
Keywords: HPLC–DAD; acrylamide; jack chips; plantain chips; potato chips; ripe plantain chips.