Project Number: 6645-41000-007-11
Project Type: Reimbursable

Start Date: Oct 01, 2011
End Date: Mar 31, 2014

Objective:
1. Rapid development and introduction of new potato varieties that have exceptional agronomic, processing and consumer acceptance traits. 2. Explore new methods for rapid and simultaneous measurement of acrylamide content in chips and French fries to meet the high throughput needs of breeding programs and processing industry.

Approach:
Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy will be used to develop a more efficient and cost effective method for rapidly analyzing acrylamide in chips and French fries from potatoes as well as sweetpotatoes. Samples of various potato and sweetpotato genotypes containing a wide range of reducing sugar and asparagine contents will be analyzed using chromatographic methods and near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy. The samples will be processed into fried chips and French fries for acrylamide analysis using GC-MS, LC-MS/MS and NIR techniques. Samples will be scanned in the diffuse reflectance mode (400-2500 nm) of NIR spectrometer. The mean NIR spectra of the analyzed samples will be modeled against the data generated by chromatographic methods using partial least square regression (PLSR), and the regression models will be validated by full cross-validation. The NIR methods will be optimized for processed products with the goal of achieving an accuracy of +/-20% in the range of 0-500 ppm acrylamide. Acrylamide is formed primarily from reducing sugars and amino acids especially asparagine. The LC-MS and GC-MS methods currently used to analyze acrylamide is time consuming and expensive.