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Food Standards Agency

Sunday 27 July 2008

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Acrylamide

acrylamide

In April 2002, scientists in Sweden discovered unexpectedly large amounts of the chemical acrylamide in foods rich in starch that had been cooked at high temperatures. These included crisps, chips, bread and crispbreads. Acrylamide is known to cause cancer in animals and its presence in some foods may harm people's health.

The Food Standards Agency takes this issue extremely seriously, since it is UK policy that people's exposure to chemicals of this nature should be as low as reasonably practical. Since the initial discovery, the Agency has conducted its own research , which confirmed the findings in Sweden. It has also played a significant role in contributing to European and international efforts to find out how acrylamide forms in food.

Although some studies have already been carried out, further research is needed to work out how best the issue might be resolved. As part of the international efforts to investigate acrylamide, the Agency is continuing to fund research. This research consists of a group of projects that feed into one another and other activities. The main aim of these activities is to minimise the amount of acrylamide present in food.

The Agency's research includes projects investigating acrylamide in the UK diet, the effect of domestic cooking on acrylamide in food, how acrylamide is formed and how acrylamide levels can be reduced.

Meanwhile, the Agency has advised that people do not need to change their diet or alter the way in which they cook their food and should continue to eat a healthy, balanced diet including plenty of fruit and vegetables.

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More advice from our eatwell website

(External) Acrylamide

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Acrylamide: your questions answered

Acrylamide is a chemical produced naturally in food as a result of cooking starch rich food at high temperatures, such as when baking or frying. It is also likely to be produced by grilling and roasting food and some other cooking methods

Current research on acrylamide

The Food Standards Agency has a number of projects contributing to the programme of international research on acrylamide.

News on acrylamide

Latest news on acrylamide.

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