Acrylamide in food - Avoid it

If you likes fried food and frequently consumed it, here is the information that you can't missed. Scientist had discovered a chemical called Acrylamide, formed in starch food when it is cooked at a high temperature for a long time.

Acrylamide is a chemical. It is used for industrial for making papers, dyes, plastics, water treatment and so on. On 2002, scientist has discovered that Acrylamide formed from sugars and an amino acid (asparagine) if food is cooked for a high temperature at 120oC or above by frying, baking, roasting. For examples the food like french fries, banana chips, fried rice, fried noodles, toast, potato toast.

So far there is scientific proof showing animals having acrylamide induce cancer and on-going studies are to be expected. However, there are 3 recognized international institution determine Acrylamide as follow :

• The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies acrylamide as a “probable human carcinogen.”
• The US National Toxicology Program (NTP) has classified acrylamide as “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.”  
• The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classifies acrylamide as “likely to be carcinogenic to humans.”

Looking into these information, we, as a consume should be more alert to avoid consuming food that might contains acrylamide. Here are some tips for us to practise in order to avoid acrylamide in our diet: 

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• 1.  Avoid cooking your foods until they are dark brown. Cook until the food turn to golden yellow colour is fine. 
• 2.  Potatoes that have their skins on when they are cooked in the microwave or boiled tend to have lower levels of acrylamide.
• 3.  Heat foods at the proper temperature and don’t overcook them. 
• 4. Soak raw potato slices in water for 15 to 30 minutes before frying or roasting to reduce acrylamide formation during cooking. (Soaked potatoes should be drained and blotted dry before cooking to prevent splattering or fires.)
• 5. Avoid storing potatoes in the refrigerator, which can result in increased acrylamide levels during cooking. 
• 6. Follow instructions from the manufacturer (for the packaged product), to avoid overcooking.

With that we can help to take care everybody's health in cooking. Even if we cannot avoid 100% but we can reduce the exposure.  

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Credit: 

1. Food Safety and Quality Division, Ministry of Health
2. American cancer society
3. FDA US Food & Drug
4. International Food Information Council Foundation