Nutritional quality and food safety evaluation of granola products in Türkiye using nutri-score and acrylamide levels

Granola products are commonly perceived as healthy cereal options; however, they should be evaluated not only for their nutritional quality but also for the potential formation of process contaminants such as acrylamide. This study aimed to assess 28 commercial granola products using the revised Nutri-Score algorithm and to determine their acrylamide content, providing a comprehensive evaluation of their nutritional profiles and contaminant levels. According to the revised Nutri-Score, 61% of the products were classified in the two lowest categories (D and E), indicating generally lower nutritional quality among the evaluated samples. Acrylamide concentrations varied considerably and did not consistently increase with lower Nutri-Score grades. The highest mean acrylamide levels were observed in grades C (279.8 µg/kg) and D (202.1 µg/kg), both exceeding the benchmark level established for oat-based breakfast cereals (150 µg/kg), whereas grade E products showed substantially lower concentrations (48.6 µg/kg). These findings show that Nutri-Score classification and acrylamide content represent distinct aspects of product evaluation. While Nutri-Score reflects nutritional quality, acrylamide levels indicate food safety with respect to process-related contaminants. Since acrylamide formation is influenced by both formulation and processing conditions that vary among products, nutritional profiling and contaminant assessment should be considered complementary tools for a comprehensive evaluation of cereal-based foods.