Acrylamide content in deep-fried snacks from 20 different production sites of South Indian province of Kerala (80 samples representing 4 important product categories) were determined using a modified high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-diode array detector (DAD) method. The limit of detection and the limit of quantification for this method were 1.04 and 3.17 μg/kg, respectively. The mean recoveries of acrylamide obtained by using spiked samples ranged between 90% and 103%, which shows good extraction efficiency. Acrylamide concentrations in the four groups of snacks ranged from 82.0 to 4245.6 µg/kg for potato chips, 46.2-2431.4 µg/kg for jack chips, 24.8-1959.8 µg/kg for sweet plantain chips and 14.7-1690.5 µg/kg for plantain chips. These are the most widely consumed snacks in South India, and the results revealed reasonable levels of acrylamide in these foods, which indicated the general risk of consumer exposure.

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The changes in chemical composition of jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) during different stages of maturation (stage I–stage IV) were investigated. Further, deep‐fried jackfruit chips, a very popular snack of Asian countries, was prepared and the occurrence of acrylamide in the chips was estimated and correlated with the composition. Total carotenoids increased during maturation, while ascorbic acid was found to decrease. The sugars—glucose, fructose, and sucrose—increased during maturation. Major amino acids in jackfruit were leucine, isoleucine, asparagine, and threonine followed by valine, serine, phenylalanine, lysine, and glutamine. The total phenolic and flavonoid content decreased during ripening. Chlorogenic acid was the major phenolic compound. It was observed that the acrylamide content in jackfruit chips increased with maturity. The sugars demonstrated a positive correlation with acrylamide formation, whereas phenolic compounds exhibited a negative correlation. Based on the acrylamide content, stage I is recommended for the preparation of jackfruit chips. Practical applications Acrylamide is a process induced toxicants in foods and development of mitigation strategies are very important to minimize the exposure to the population. The present study investigated the effect of chemical changes during the ripening of jackfruit on acrylamide formation in deep fried chips made from jackfruit. It was observed from the study that the maturity of jackfruit had an impact on the concentrations of precursors, influencing acrylamide formation in deep‐fried chips. Thus, the proper selection of the maturity stage of raw jackfruit is very important in mitigation of acrylamide formation in jackfruit chips. We feel that the study is very important as variety of deep‐fried snack products are popular in Africa and Asian countries and no such studies on the acrylamide content in these products reported earlier.