Removing acrylamide from food

27/06/06 Scientists are making headway in reducing acrylamide levels in foods like potato chips, although reducing levels in coffee is still difficult, according to food science experts at the IFT Annual Meeting + FOOD EXPO^®.

Acrylamide, a chemical found in potato chips, French fries, coffee, and bread, was the center of a worldwide health scare in 2002 after a European study found it was formed in some foods that were fried or baked at high temperatures. Since then, scientists have tried to find ways to reduce acrylamide from food without destroying their taste and quality.

Researchers now believe they can reduce or remove before cooking some of the compounds that help form acrylamide during baking or frying.

“[F]or certain applications, [this] is a very promising approach,” said Richard Stadler, head of quality management at Nestle. Reducing acrylamide in coffee, on the other hand, has always been a challenge, he said.

Michael Pariza, director of the Food Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin, said there’s yet been no single all-encompassing method found for reducing acrylamide while preserving quality. But he says the problem must be taken in context.

There are thousands of compounds in food that are potentially carcinogenic, he said. But that doesn’t mean they’re dangerous.