Acrylamide levels in NZ potato crisps reduced: study

Efforts by New Zealand potato crisp manufacturers to reduce acrylamide in their products have been successful, resulting in a two-thirds reduction in acrylamide concentrations since 2006.

A recent NZ Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) report looked at the major contributors to acrylamide exposure in the country. Acrylamide is a chemical that is naturally produced in foods by frying, roasting or baking food at high temperatures.

The most common products that contain acrylamide are: potato products, such as crisps, hot chips and roast potatoes; cereal-based foods, such as bread, breakfast cereals, biscuits, muffins, fried rice and noodles and cereal-based snack foods; and nut products like peanut butter, roasted peanuts and cashews.

Results from the survey were encouraging, with acrylamide concentrations in potato crisps decreasing significantly from 1570 to 581 µg/kg from 2006 to 2011. Mean concentrations in hot chips and wheat biscuit cereals remained steady from 2006, while oven baked or roasted potato concentrations appear to have increased.

“It’s encouraging to see how industry has stepped up and addressed this issue by taking voluntary steps to reduce the amount of acrylamide that’s in their potato products,” said the MPI’s principal toxicology advisor, John Reeve.

The FoodDrinkEurope toolkit and the WHO/FAO Codex code of practice on the reduction of acrylamide in food are available to help industry reduce acrylamide levels.

The MPI says consumers can reduce acrylamide levels in their food by ensuring flames don’t come into contact with food during the cooking process and by cooking with a heat source above or on the side of the food, rather than below.