Cancer link threat to snack food industry

A breakthrough discovery into how a potentially cancer-causing chemical, acrylamide, is formed in food such as chips, crisps and crackers may force wide-ranging changes to the processes used by food companies to make a huge range of snacks.

But safety could come with a penalty: less taste – because the chemical is a byproduct of the same reactions that give baked and roasted foods their flavours.

A number of food producers have approached the British scientists who worked out how baking and roasting cereal and potato-based foods at temperatures above 120C (equivalent to Gas Mark 1) generates the chemical. "We have been approached by a group of companies who are anxious to understand the fundamental mechanisms behind this compound," said Professor Donald Mottram of the University of Reading's School of Food Biosciences.

Together with Bronislaw Wedzicha at the University of Leeds and Andrew Dodson at Reading, Professor Mottram revealed in the science journal Nature that acrylamide is produced by a well-known chemical process called the Maillard reaction, specifically when the amino acid asparagine – commonly found in potatoes and cereals – reacts at temperatures between 120 and 180C (about Gas Mark 1 to 5) with sugars. The maximum production occurs at 170C, or about Gas Mark 4.

Food companies could lower the production of acrylamide in foods very simply: by turning down the cooking temperature. But that would carry a penalty, noted Professor Mottram: "Products of the Maillard reaction are responsible for much of the flavour and colour generated during baking and roasting."

A spokeswoman for the Food and Drink Federation admitted that its members are taking the problem of acrylamide "very seriously indeed". She said companies "are looking at how to change their production processes".

Alarm was first raised over acrylamide in April when a team of Swedish scientists noted that the chemical, which is widely used in manufacturing, water treatment and construction, was also found in foods. At high doses it is a nerve poison, and at low doses it is suspected of causing cancer in humans, although the World Health Organisation is still reviewing the evidence for this.

The common thread in the foods in which it occurs is that they have been fried, baked or microwaved. By contrast acrylamide has not been found in boiled or raw foods.

The Food Standards Agency has called for proposals on the research needed to better understand the effects of the chemical. It has also advised people to eat a balanced diet, and to ensure that food is thoroughly cooked – the danger of food poisoning is greater than the theoretical one from acrylamide.

Professor Mottram said: "I don't think there's a reason yet to avoid baked or fried foods in a balanced diet. But most food scientists would agree that fatty foods pose a much greater risk."