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What is Acrylamide?

Acrylamide is a chemical that can form in foods during high-temperature cooking processes, such as frying, roasting, and baking. Acrylamide in food forms from sugars and the amino acid asparagine, all naturally present in food;

Acrylamide has always been present in cooked foods, however this was not known until April 2002, when acrylamide was first detected in foods in by Swedish researchers.
 

Why should you care?

Acrylamide caused cancer in animals in studies where animals were exposed to acrylamide at very high doses. Acrylamide causes nerve damage in people exposed to very high levels at work.

However, the public health impact - if any - of the much lower levels found in foods is still unclear. Health Agencies and scientists are conducting research studies to determine whether acrylamide in food is a potential risk to human health.

Potatoes contain a significant amount of asparagine, one of the acrylamide precursors. Therefore fried and baked potato products typically contain acrylamide.
 

What can be done about it?

As a precautionary measure, the food industry is working to reduce the acrylamide content of their products.

At home (and in the restaurant) it does make sense to avoid excessive browning, both for potato dishes prepared from scratch as for products bought in store.