Reducing Acrylamide Levels in Roasted Coffee Through Novel Food Enzyme Acrylerase – CoffeeTalk

Enzymes, biological catalysts that speed up chemical reactions, are proving to be a hidden but integral part of the food and drink industry. Their transformational potential—improving flavor profiles, extending shelf life, and enhancing texture and stability—is now being harnessed across many beverage categories, including coffee.

Coffee faces a significant challenge: acrylamide. This process-related contaminant forms naturally during high-temperature processing like roasting. In the EU, acrylamide is considered a substance of concern. While bakery producers can target the precursor of acrylamide (asparagine), this approach has been less practical for the coffee industry.

Kerry has tackled this problem from a different angle, offering the first commercially available enzyme designed to decompose acrylamide after it forms.

Last month, the company received a positive scientific opinion from EFSA for this novel amidase food enzyme, Acrylerase. Acrylerase is specifically designed to significantly reduce acrylamide in coffee extracts used to manufacture instant coffee and coffee substitutes. Targeting acrylamide after it’s produced is transformational for coffee for several reasons. “It [Acrylerase] can be seamlessly integrated into existing processing workflows without requiring additional unit operations,” explains Ronan Moloney, VP Enzymes at Kerry.

“Importantly, compared to other mitigation strategies, Acrylerase achieves acrylamide reduction without compromising taste or yield.”

Acrylerase is a prime example of how enzymes can help solve real-world manufacturing and food safety challenges in the coffee industry. “Enzymes are widely used across the beverage industry as processing aids to improve yield, clarity, raw material flexibility, flavor, and process efficiency,” Moloney adds. “Continuous enzyme innovation not only enables process intensification and yield improvement but also contributes to enhanced product quality and consumer experience.”

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