Acrylamide in Food

Reduce Acrylamide by Going for Gold

Acrylamide is a chemical substance formed by a reaction between amino acids and sugars.  It is found in a wide variety of foods such as chips, roast potatoes, crisps, toast, cakes, biscuits, cereals and coffee. Concern regarding the carcinogenic potential of acrylamide has eventually led to new legislation that comes into force in April 2018.  Commission Regulation (EU) No 2017/2158 requires that food business operators apply the acrylamide mitigation measures set in the Annexes in this Regulation. When foods with a high starch content are fried, roasted or baked at high temperatures over 120°C acrylamide is formed. The recommendation for cooking food with a high starch level is to “go for gold” as generally, the darker the appearance of a starchy product, the higher the acrylamide level is found to be. It is advised that the temperature of cooking oil … Read more