Evaluation of ethyl carbamate risk in relation to yeast strain and wine ageing conditions

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EVALUATION

OF ETHYL

CARBAMATE

RISK

IN RELATION

TO YEAST

STRAIN

A N D W I N E

A G E I N G

C O N D I T I O N S

Roberto Larcher.

Ainhoa Usua Menolli, Sergio Moser, Loris Tonidandel, Giorgio Nicolini

FEM-\ASMA,

IJnità Chimica

Vitienologica

e Agroalimentare,

via E. Mach 1, 38122 S. Michele

all'Adige

(TN), ttaly

e - m a i l : r o b e r t o . l a r c h e r @ i a s m a . i t

Keywords: Ageing, Ethyl carbamate, Urea, Yeast

Ethyl carbamate (EC), alios urethane, is the ethyl ester of carbamic acid recognised since 2OO7 by IARC a s p r o b a b l y c a r c i n o g e n i c t o h u m a n s . t t s m e a n in t a k e p e r d a y w a s e v a l u a t e d a t a b o u t 1 5 n g / k g b w c o m i n g f r o m several fermented food and drinks, excluding the contribution of alcoholic beverages where EC concentration can reach L2 mg/L (Weber and Sharypov, 2009). EC in wines mainly derives from the direct chemical reaction b e t w e e n u r e a a n d e t h a n o l , th e f o r m e r b e i n g p r o d u c e d d u r i n g f e r m e n t a t i o n fr o m a r g i n i n e , c i t r u l l i n e a n d o r n i t h i n e ( O u g h e t a l . , 1 9 8 8 ; S t e v e n s a n d O u g h 1 9 9 3 ; K o d a m a e t a l . 1 9 9 4 ) w h e r e a s in s p i r i t s th e m a i n p r e c u r s o r s a r e c y a n i d e s ( B u t z k e a n d B i s s o n , t 9 9 7 ; A r e s t a e t a 1 . 2 0 0 1 ) . T h e f i n a l a m o u n t o f u r e a i n w i n e i s related to yeast genotype, grape variety and fermentative conditions (Bertrand 1993; Ough et al., 1990; An and Ough, 1993; Larcher et al., 2OO7) and strategies for minimising the risk of EC synthesis were reported by Butzke a n d B i s s o n ( L 9 9 7 ) h i g h l i g h t i n g t h e r o l e o f t e m p e r a t u r e t h r o u g h o u t a g e i n g .

The present work investigated using GC-MS the development of EC during an accelerated ageing in bottfe at 4O"C under dark conditions for ]-52 days. Sixty white wines from 5 varietal juices fermented using 10 yeast strains were considered.

U n d e r t h e e x p e r i m e n t a l c o n d i t i o n s a p p l i e d , r e a c t i o n d i d n o t r e a c h p l a t e a u c o n d i t i o n s - confirming Hasnip et al. (2004) - and urea was converted in EC with a mean rate of 3.4%.

On the basis of the results achieved, in the case of wines with at least 20 mg/L urea less than 5 days at 40"C were sufficient to give 15 + 30 1tg/L EC, a warning content in many Countries. These temperature c o n d i t i o n c a n b e e a s i l y re a c h e d d u r i n g n o t c o n d i t i o n e d w i n e s h i p p i n g o r s t o r i n g in n o t s p e c i a l i s e d s h o p s . T h e u s e o f p a r t i c u l a r y e a s t s t r a i n s (i . e . L a C l a i r e S P 6 6 5 ; M a u r i v i n P l a t i n u m ) p r o v e d th e p o s s i b i l i t y t o m i n i m i s e u r e a c o n t e n t in w i n e , th u s r e d u c i n g E C r i s k .

References

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Aresta M, Boscoto M, Franco DW (2001). Copper(ll) catalysis in cyanide conversion into ethyl carbamate in spirits and relevant reactions. J. Agric. Food Chem., Vol. 49,28L9-2824.

Bertrand A (L993). Le carbamate d'éthyle dans les eaux-de-víe de vin. In Roger Cantagrel Editor, Élaboration et Connaissance des Spiritueux, Recherche de la qualité, tradition et innovation, BNIC, diffusion Tec et Doc Lavoisier Paris, pp. 278-289.

Butzke CE, Bisson tF (1997). Ethyl carbamate preventatíve action manual: L997, updated 2OA2. U.S. Food and Drug Ad m in istratíon. http://www.cfsa n.fda.gov.

Hasnip S, Caputi A, Crews C, Brereton P (2004). Effect of storage time and temperature on the concentration of ethyl carbamate and its precursor in wine. Food Addit. Contam. 21, 1155-1-1-61.

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Larcher R, Nicolini G, Bertoldi D (2007). Applícation of differential pH technique to the determination of urea in Italian wínes. Vitis,46, 148-L53.

Ough CS, Crowell EA, Guttove BR (L988). Carbamyl compound reactions with ethanol. Am. J. Enol. Vitic., 39,239-242.

Ough CS, Stevens D, Sendovski T, Huang Z, An D (1990). Factors contributing to urea formation in commercially fermented wines. Am. J. Enol. Vitic.,4t,68-73.

Stevens DF, Ough CS (1993). Ethyl carbamate formation: reactíon of urea and citrulline with ethanol in wine under low to normal temperature conditions. Am. J. Enol. Vitic., 44,309-3L2.

Weber JV, Sharypov Vl (2009). Ethyl carbamate in foods and beverages: a review. Environ. Chem. Lett., 7, 233-247.

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