Thermal Contaminants in Coffee Induced by Roasting: A Review

David Silva da Costa, Tânia Gonçalves Albuquerque, Helena Soares Costa and Adriana Pavesi Arisseto Bragotto ()
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David Silva da Costa: Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Cidade Universitária, R. Monteiro Lobato 80, Campinas 13083-862, Brazil
Tânia Gonçalves Albuquerque: Departamento de Alimentação e Nutrição, Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge, I.P. Av. Padre Cruz, 1649-016 Lisboa, Portugal
Helena Soares Costa: Departamento de Alimentação e Nutrição, Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge, I.P. Av. Padre Cruz, 1649-016 Lisboa, Portugal
Adriana Pavesi Arisseto Bragotto: Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Cidade Universitária, R. Monteiro Lobato 80, Campinas 13083-862, Brazil

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 8, 1-25

Abstract: Roasting is responsible for imparting the main characteristics to coffee, but the high temperatures used in the process can lead to the formation of several potentially toxic substances. Among them, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, acrylamide, furan and its derivative compounds, α-dicarbonyls and advanced glycation end products, 4-methylimidazole, and chloropropanols stand out. The objective of this review is to present a current and comprehensive overview of the chemical contaminants formed during coffee roasting, including a discussion of mitigation strategies reported in the literature to decrease the concentration of these toxicants. Although the formation of the contaminants occurs during the roasting step, knowledge of the coffee production chain as a whole is important to understand the main variables that will impact their concentrations in the different coffee products. The precursors and routes of formation are generally different for each contaminant, and the formed concentrations can be quite high for some substances. In addition, the study highlights several mitigation strategies related to decreasing the concentration of precursors, modifying process conditions and eliminating/degrading the formed contaminant. Many of these strategies show promising results, but there are still challenges to be overcome, since little information is available about advantages and disadvantages in relation to aspects such as costs, potential for application on an industrial scale and impacts on sensory properties.

Keywords: food processing; Maillard reaction; public health; toxicity; carcinogens; Rubiaceae (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:8:p:5586-:d:1127996

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