Methods for Reducing Levels of Acrylamide

18/08/06 Scientists now can identify strategies for reducing levels of acrylamide formed when starchy foods are baked, roasted, fried or toasted, according to an article scheduled for the Aug. 14 issue of Chemical & Engineering News, the American Chemical Society's weekly newsmagazine.

Those first roadmaps for responding to concerns about acrylamide -- a neurotoxin and probable human carcinogen -- have emerged from a flurry of scientific research done on the compound since 2002, writes C&EN Senior Editor Bette Hileman. The studies began after acrylamide was first identified in food; about 200 scientific papers on the compounds now have been published.

However, the research provides few answers about acrylamide's human health risks, C&EN says. The article discusses how food authorities in the United States and Europe have taken different approaches to regulating acrylamide levels in food. The highest levels occur in French fries and potato chips. Efforts to reduce acrylamide in food in the United States may depend on the fate of a proposed Federal law, according to the C&EN article. The law would restrict state efforts to regulate acrylamide and other food compounds more stringently than does the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"No Quick Fix for Acrylamide in Food: Intense scrutiny has provided methods of reduction but few answers about risk."