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World governments focus on potential harm in french fries
September 24, 2009
Food safety remains a high priority for the restaurant industry, with a focus on properly cooking ingredients. Yet the cooking process itself can sometimes produce harmful chemicals.
Earlier this week, a health advocacy group filed suit against KFC, one of several chains the group has targeted over the years, regarding the presence of a naturally occuring carcinogen in grilled chicken. Earlier suits were dismissed based on U.S. Food and Drug Administration requirements that chicken must be cooked to a proper temperature in order to ensure food safety.
But a chemical found to be created during cooking high-carbohydrate foods at high temperatures may lead to food-industry change, according to a story in the Chicago Tribune. The natural byproduct acrylamide is raising government concern around the world because it potentially may be a human carcinogen. While U.S. consumers don't seem worried, studies by U.S., Canadian and European governments are focusing on it, and food-industry chemists are aggressively pursuing ways to reduce it in products.
According to the Chicago Tribune:
Previously known as a synthetic substance found in plastics, grouts and cigarette smoke, acrylamide exploded on to the food safety scene in 2002 when scientists at the Swedish Food Administration detected surprisingly high levels of it in high-carbohydrate foods and published evidence linking it to cancer in lab rats.So far, there's little evidence that dietary acrylamide harms humans. But widely anticipated research to be released later this year is expected to confirm that megadoses of the chemical are carcinogenic in laboratory animals — the usual methodology for toxicological studies. ...The amount of dietary acrylamide, measured in parts per billion (ppb), varies widely depending on the manufacturer, the raw materials used and processing conditions, including cooking time. When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration tested seven batches of McDonald's french fries, it found levels ranging from 193 ppb to 497 ppb. One sample of Krispy Kreme Original Glazed Doughnuts had no detectable levels; a second sample showed 22 ppb.
The U.S. food industry is testing several tactics, including altering raw materials or the way the food is processed. While studies have yet to find a link between humans ingesting foods with acrylamide and cancer, but eating large quantities of foods with the naturally occuring byproduct may lead to a higher risk of heart disease, one study has found.
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