Acrylamide carcinogen leaving your French fries

by michelle.sundvick | August 5, 2008 at 10:51 am

1505 views | 7 Recommendations | 15 comments

With all this talk about banning fast food, trans fats, and all that is unhealthy, several French fry and potato chip companies are trying to spare their foods from making the long list of greasy, bad-for-your-health foods. French fries and chips contain a chemical called acrylamide, a known carcinogen. These companies have finally agreed to lower acrylamide levels in their products in order to settle a lawsuit filed by the state of California. So no, these foods do not quite make it onto the nutritional food items menu, but I'll settle for one less carcinogen in my diet.

Several companies -- Heinz, Frito-Lay, Kettle Foods and Lance Inc. (which makes Cape Cod chips) -- have agreed to lower acrylamide levels in their goods to settle a lawsuit filed by the state's attorney general in 2005. This is the latest in a number of developments stemming from that lawsuit: Last year, Wendy's, KFC, Burger King and McDonald's agreed to pay fines and label their products with a Proposition 65 warning

Acrylamide is formed when sugar and the amino acid asparagine react in high heat in what's called the Maillard reaction, which always makes me think of ducks but was actually a chemical reaction discovered by the scientist Louis Camille Maillard. (It is what's responsible for the brown crispy, tasty bits on roast meat.)

First off, we've been merrily frying potatoes in our home kitchens for decades. Second, many other foods contain acrylamide -- coffee and olives, to name just two. Third: Links to human cancer haven't been established, and I've sometimes wondered what doesn't cause cancer in a rodent if you toss enough at it.

Finally, fruits, vegetables and other foods naturally contain many chemicals that can cause cancer in high doses in rodents. Here's a partial list, from a December 2005 L.A. Times article: benzyl acetate, caffeic acid, coumarin, quercetin -- found in such healthful, upstanding items as apples, basil, broccoli and tomatoes. You can read about that here. And if you want to read more about the acrylamide issue, go here.

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Uwe Paschen

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 20:32 on August 5th, 2008

michelle.sundvick, I like this story. It's good stuff.

María Sunchina

at 21:07 on August 5th, 2008

I took this picture because I brought him these flamin' hot fritos, cuz he once told me he loooved fritos.

We were just foolin' around with this fritos bag.

María Sunchina has contributed a photo to this story.

Arthur Porto

at 03:11 on August 6th, 2008

this was my first shot w/ my camera, i'm a amateur, actually i'm an illustrator, phothography is just a hobby. you can check my stuff out at www.flickr.com/arthurporto

Arthur Porto has contributed a photo to this story.

Zama Ree Do

at 03:40 on August 6th, 2008

For Christmas, Amy dug into the large classy gift bag to find that her gift was her all time favorite chips! You can see on her face that she loved receiving something so personal.

Zama Ree Do has contributed a photo to this story.

kitsune27

at 04:45 on August 6th, 2008

i took this photo in the original wendy's on the last day it was open in columbus, ohio.

kitsune27 has contributed a photo to this story.

sandritaaaaa

at 06:54 on August 6th, 2008

For some reason, I always 'find' things that have the shape of a heart. This chip was no exception. So, I took a photo of it.

sandritaaaaa has contributed a photo to this story.

doo_kie

at 07:15 on August 6th, 2008

I took these photos because I want to show them to my blog readers, I made a little review on the food.

doo_kie has contributed a photo to this story.

richardzx

at 08:28 on August 6th, 2008

I love the taste of acrylamide in the morning!

--rZx

flickr/richardzx

flaurella

at 08:35 on August 6th, 2008

Quality chips by CAPE COD Potato Chips are a good treat.

flaurella has contributed a photo to this story.

oboe

at 15:58 on August 6th, 2008

I was recently in China, this photo is from Shanghai. It's shocking the amount of American fast food and American commercial food products I saw in major cities. I actually don't know much about acrylamide and the associated levels, but I assume familiar food from big American corporations are the same abroad as at home. How would a law passed here affect the chips received in China?

oboe has contributed a photo to this story.

raymondvanhouten

at 03:48 on August 7th, 2008

With acrylamide and chips it is like pain and love. Both chips and love taste good but come with a price. But like with more things in live a struggle is to show you something; to learn and grow: awareness. The result is better love or more healthy chips.
But basically the picture was taken just before Valentines day when I discovered this chip in the bag; and also suffering a bit from love-matters. So the heart chip is placed over my heart (well almost, self-portrait is always difficult).

raymondvanhouten has contributed a photo to this story.