Acrylamide Levels in Food Linked to Length of Time Spent Cooking

The longer French fries and certain other starchy foods are fried or baked, the higher their level of a possible cancer-causing substance, new federal research suggests.

The substance, called acrylamide, made headlines last spring when Swedish scientists discovered that it forms in fries, potato chips and other high-carbohydrate foods cooked at high temperatures.

Scientists in several other European countries confirmed the Swedish discovery -- and now the latest batch of tests, made public Wednesday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, shows that acrylamide levels vary widely even within the same brand of food.

FDA scientists bought French fries at four different Popeye’s restaurants and found a threefold difference between the batches with the highest and lowest acrylamide levels. In tests of 25 seemingly identical bags of Lay’s Classic Potato Chips, only two bags contained the same acrylamide level.

Acrylamide forms during traditional cooking methods -- whether a person buys ready-made food or fries or bakes from raw ingredients in his or her own kitchen -- and it seems that the longer certain foods are cooked at especially high temperatures, the more acrylamide appears.

Acrylamide causes cancer in test animals, but has never been proved to do so in people -- meaning no one knows if higher levels in one food than another are a problem.

FDA scientists stressed that there is no reason for Americans to start avoiding certain foods for fear of acrylamide, a message echoed by the food and restaurant industries.

Because acrylamide forms during traditional cooking methods, dietary exposure “is something that’s been going on a long time,” said FDA senior scientist Bernard Schwetz.