Acrylamide in french fries can be decreased, says ACS research

There are plenty of reasons to exclude french fries from our diet, but it's just not easy. One of them is that the process of preparing potato strips--and other food products--can influence the inevitable formation of a substance called acrylamide during cooking.

Acrylamide is tagged as a “probable potential carcinogen” by the National Toxicology Program and the International Agency for Research on Cancer. It naturally forms when cooking certain food products, and french fries are no exception. The good news is that there are potential ways to decrease the amount of acrylamide, according to Donald S. Mottram and colleagues in their research published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

To understand the chemistry involved in acrylamide formation, the research team uses computer models which will help determine how to minimise acrylamide levels in practice. The special feature of this approach is that it has been possible to link changes in natural potato components (glucose, fructose, amino acids, moisture) occurring during preparation and cooking with the extent of acrylamide formation. The approach has only been possible through collaboration between the food industry and food chemists from different disciplines.

The commercial process (which includes potato selection and sorting, cutting, blanching, sugar augmentation, drying, frying and freezing), in combination with final cooking, generates the colour, texture and flavour that consumers expect in french fries. This model facilitates evaluation of various processing and final cooking parameters to develop products with lower acrylamide. Additionally, the authors confirm previous reports, which found that minimising the ratio of fructose to glucose in cut potato strips can reduce the amount of acrylamide that ends up in the French fries.