Tailoring the formulation of wholemeal wheat flour: the selection and recombination of milling fractions to control acrylamide and deoxynivalenol contamination

Wholemeal bakery products present sanitary risks due to their accumulation of free asparagine (ASN), the main precursor of acrylamide (AA), and contamination by deoxynivalenol (DON). The distribution of ASN and DON in the milling fractions was studied on commercial batches of wheat processed by means of roller milling (RM), stone milling (SM) and debranning (D). ASN was mainly concentrated in the RM-fractions, with the highest levels in the germ, followed by shorts, red dog and bran. Because of its high ash content, bran can be included at low percentages in recombined mixtures, thereby limiting ASN, AA and DON in biscuits. D fractions had less ash and a significantly higher level of DON. The wholemeal SM and control exhibited the highest AA levels and AA/ASN ratio. A food design approach based on ash content can simultaneously mitigate the risk of AA and DON, improving the safety of wholemeal bakery products.