Semicarbazide formation in bread

ANYL 33

Gregory O. Noonan, Timothy H. Begley, Gregory W. Diachenko, and Charles R. Warner, Charles.Warner@cfsan.fda.gov. Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 5100 Paint Branch Parkway, HFS-706, College Park, MD 20740
Semicarbazide (SC) residues have been reported in flours and breads manufactured with flour that contain azodicarbonamide, an approved dough conditioner. Commercial bread products show a wide range of semicarbazide concentrations (10 to 1200 µg/kg) in products listing azodicarbonamide (ADC) among their ingredients. We were interested in understanding if this wide variation in semicarbazide concentration was solely dependent on the ADC starting concentration or was the result of other processing variables. We were also interested in understanding the impact of the extraction and derivatization methods on the determination of semicarbazide concentration. Results using bread spiked with ADC and biurea (a decomposition product of ADC) clearly establish that SC is primarily formed during baking and that dough rise time and temperatures do not dramatically impact SC concentrations. We will show that analytical methods that use 0.1M HCl extraction solutions, in the presence of biurea, will lead to the formation of additional semicarbazide. These results and their impact on determining SC in commercial products will be discussed.