What is acrylamide?
Acrylamide is a chemical compound that forms naturally in a wide variety of foods when they are cooked, including coffee, chocolate, almonds, french fries, crackers, potato chips, cereal, bread and even some fruits and vegetables. Acrylamide has been present in food ever since humans began cooking, but it was not known to be in food until April 2002, when a group of Swedish scientists presented research that detected trace levels of the compound in some baked and fried foods. Prior to the Swedish study, food was not analyzed for acrylamide because it was not used as an ingredient, nor was it known to be a component of food.
Is acrylamide added to products?
No. Acrylamide forms naturally when certain carbohydrate-rich foods are fried, baked, or roasted at high temperatures. Acrylamide forms when foods are cooked at home
and in restaurants as well as when they are made commercially. The primary mechanism for acrylamide formation in foods is the reaction of reducing sugars (such as glucose) with free asparagine, an amino acid found in many foods, during the browning reaction. Reducing sugars, asparagine, and other amino acids are all naturally present in many plant-based foods.
Why is there a concern about acrylamide?
At high doses, acrylamide has been found to cause cancer in some laboratory animals. Currently, the FDA, the World Health Organization and most other health regulatory bodies have not determined if the presence of acrylamide in food presents a health risk to humans and do not recommend that consumers change their diets for the purpose of avoiding acrylamide. Studies are ongoing on this subject.
Is one food contributing more acrylamide than other foods to the diet?
Data suggests that no single food contributes a majority of acrylamide to the average diet. It is estimated that acrylamide is present in 40 percent of the calories consumed in the typical American diet. While that number can vary in some countries, there’s nothing to suggest that eliminating any single food would significantly reduce the amount of acrylamide in the diet. Acrylamide can likely be found in any foods that contain starch and are heated at high temperatures. Further, there can be a wide range in the amount of acrylamide in a particular food based on variations in the natural components of raw materials and cooking conditions.
What products contain acrylamide?
Carbohydrate-rich products that have been subjected to heating and the “browning reaction” - when flavors colors and textures are formed -generally contain acrylamide. Acrylamide is formed in thousands of different products. Among the foods which develop acrylamide during cooking are coffee, chocolate, almonds, french fries, potato chips, cereal, crackers, bread, and even some fruits and vegetables.
What do government authorities advise regarding dietary intake of acrylamide?
Although the formation of acrylamide in cooked foods is still being studied, a number of leading government food safety authorities around the world advise that consumers eat a healthy, balanced diet, rather than eliminate certain foods.
For example, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that the public eat a balanced diet, choosing a variety of foods that are low in trans fat and saturated fat, and rich in high-fiber grains, fruits, and vegetables. Similarly, the World Health Organization (WHO) reinforces general advice on healthy eating, including moderating consumption of fried and fatty foods. The WHO concludes that there is not enough evidence about the amounts of acrylamide in different types of food to recommend avoiding any particular food product. And the Food Standards Agency in the United Kingdom recommends that consumers do not need to change their diet or the way in which they cook their food – but continue to eat a healthy, balanced diet.
FDA and other health and scientific organizations are continuing to study acrylamide in food – how it is formed during cooking, its effect on health, and how its formation during cooking can be reduced. This research may form the basis for more specific dietary advice and/or federal regulation of specific food products in the future. FDA has explicitly stated, however, that warnings about acrylamide in food are not in the public interest at this time.
What solutions is industry implementing?
In Europe, a guidance document or “toolbox” has been developed by the European food processors trade association (CIAA), including many GMA member companies, in collaboration with European regulators, to highlight possible ways to reduce acrylamide in different types of products. For example, selecting potatoes with naturally low levels of sugar for potato chips helps control the formation of acrylamide when they are cooked.
Industry has also invented a process that uses an enzyme to mitigate acrylamide’s natural formation when cooking milled corn and many other dough-based foods. In order to make sure that all consumers can benefit from this technology, the process has been licensed to two independent companies to begin making it commercially available to other food manufacturers. The two companies, Novozymes and DSM, both have begun to market it to clients in the food industry.
Will these changes eliminate acrylamide from all products?
No. Currently, there does not appear to be a practical and effective method for completely eliminating acrylamide from many kinds of products. Even when it comes to reducing acrylamide, there is not a single solution that can be applied to all foods, and many of the methods that have the potential for reducing acrylamide may adversely affect taste, color and texture. But research and innovation are continuing to discover and implement ways to reduce acrylamide in a number of foods.