Acrylamide can be generated from food components during tortilla chips frying. Thus, the aim of this research was to study different nixtamalization processes as traditional (TNP) with lime [Ca(OH)2], ecological (ENP) with CaCO3, classic nixtamalization (CNP) that uses wood ash and extrusion (EXT) with no Ca+2 source on mitigating the acrylamide formation in deep-fat frying tortilla chips. Acrylamide quantification was done through HPLC-UV. Lower acrylamide content in tortilla chips was for CNP with 46.3 µg/kg, followed by TNP with 55.0 µg/kg, ENP with 694.6 µg/kg and EXP with 1443.4 µg/kg. Differences in acrylamide values among samples can be related to effect of cations (Ca2+, Mg2+, Fe2+, Zn2+, Na+ and K+) present in wood ashes, lime and salts used as raw materials. Correlation of (r = 0.85; p <0.0005) was observed in color of tortilla chips, moisture, texture, blisters, and oil with acrylamide. Nixtamalization process is an effective and inexpensive strategy for acrylamide mitigation.
Keywords: Acrylamide; Mono- and di-cations; Nixtamalization; Tortilla chips.