4-Methylimidazole in soluble coffee and coffee substitutes

•4-MeI in soluble coffees and coffee substitutes.•4-MeI ranged from 136 to 1411 μg/kg.•The presence of cereals is determinant in 4-MeI amount.

Soluble coffee and coffee substitutes' consumption has grown considerably in recent years. These products, prepared from roasted coffee and/or cereal extracts, are more consumer-friendly than plain coffee, being usually cheaper. During roasting, several toxic compounds can be produced from carbohydrate degradation in presence of aminoacids, including 4-methylimidazole (4-MeI). This work aimed to screen the presence of 4-MeI in soluble coffee and its surrogates commercialized in Portugal using a previously validated gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS) method. In a total of 45 soluble samples analyzed, including 10 plain coffees, 8 decaffeinated coffees, 12 cereal mixtures with coffee and 15 cereal mixtures without coffee, all the samples were positive for 4-MeI, with levels that ranged from 136 to 1411 μg/kg. All cereal-containing samples had significantly higher amounts (p < 0.01) than coffee samples, whilst no statistical differences were observed between decaffeinated and plain coffees. The high variability observed between samples is not influenced by the “brand” effect as well as by raw-material.