Acrylamide is one of the most commonly occurring substances in food which impose adverse effects on health. Acrylamide is a chemical material formed during high temperature cooking processes such as frying, roasting, baking or grilling at temperatures exceeding 120°C. The greatest amounts of acrylamide can be found in fried potatoes, bread, potato chips, coffee, biscuits as well as cornflakes. Unfortunately, acrylamide is also present within baby foods such as biscuits and rusks for infants and children. Therefore, acrylamide exists in a daily diet of a number of people.
The main pathway responsible for acrylamide formation is the Maillard reaction which interestingly can produce various flavours for instance umami taste of fried onions, caramel and maple syrup.
Acrylamide was classified as likely carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
Recent scandals
The alarm has been raised by the Safe Food Advocacy Europe after acrylamide concentration has been found at four to five times greater than what is allowed in the EU. A campaign has been made by Safe calling for safer bounding levels for AA mainly serving as intake for young children. Moreover, the campaign aims for a clear and definite maximum contamination levels to be established all around EU.
In 2017, the Commission set benchmarks levels in order to decrease the presence of acrylamide within food products. Nowadays, the Commission is reviewing the previously set benchmark levels together with Safe advocating for a considerable decrease in permissible amount of AA in food. Safe's high contribution comes as a response to alarming levels of acrylamide explored within food products throughout the past years.
With regards to recent analysis of cases reported to the EU Rapid Alert System by Member States (RASFF) in the past two years, acrylamide levels were between 497 to 2,690μg/kg - which is four to five times greater from what is permitted in the EU considering current benchmark levels.
It has been shown that acrylamide can be found in coffee. Researchers discovered instant coffee contains 100% more acrylamide with comparison to freshly roasted coffee. On the other hand, coffee subsites had 300% more acrylamide. While it is impossible to obtain acrylamide free coffee the industry is currently working on ways which can decrease acrylamide levels in the future.
Baby foods
Recently conducted tests on acrylamide in food products highlighted the urgency to set the maximum binding values in order to reduce the amount of the chemical compound, especially considering the food products which are being consumed by infants and young children - 13% of the baby foods showed to be high upon benchmark levels, including 7.7% of the potato crisps and 6.3% of biscuits dedicated for infants and young children.
With respect to biscuits and rusks for infants and young children, even though an increase with comparison to the current benchmark levels was not observed, Safe suggested the permissible level to be below the imposed value of 150µg/kg. A lower maximum level would force food producers to be more careful about the amount of AA included in the food products and therefore ensuring a better protection for the youngest and most vulnerable. The attention should be primarily given to products such as biscuits and wafers which have a benchmark level of 350µg/kg. Although, these products are not strictly labelled as baby foods they are commonly consumed by individuals below three years of age.
Effects on health
In the body acrylamide is metabolised into a highly reactive and mutagenic substance which has a broad effect on human health and wellbeing including reproductive issues (reduced fertility), neurotoxicity (muscle weakness, numbness in hands and feet, sweating, unsteadiness and clumsiness), oxidative stress, developmental effects (decreased body weight, decreased startle responses, signs of repressed learning ability and motivation, delayed motor skill development as well as decrease in chemicals involved in brain signal transmission) and cancer.
How to minimise the acrylamide consumption
It is of great importance to follow a healthy balanced diet including more fruits and vegetables and fewer biscuits and cakes. Moreover, boiling, steaming or microwaving food is a better and healthier option. While preparing prepacked products such as oven chips one should follow the instructions as they are designed to ensure the proper cooking length as well as adequate temperature. There is no need to worry about occasionally overcooked toast or another food product. Yet, scraping off the dark brown pieces may help in acrylamide reduction.
Renald Blundell is a biochemist and biotechnologist with a special interest in Natural and Alternative Medicine. He is a professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Malta
Andrea Weronika Gieleta is a registered nurse and is currently a medical student at the University of Malta