Researchers of Ghent University - department of Food Safety and food Quality developed a technique to reduce acrylamide in French fries on an industrial scale. Acrylamide is a product that may cause cancer and was discovered in various foods.
Cancerogenic acrylamide in French fries
"In 2002, acrylamide, an undesired product that may cause cancer, was discovered in various foods, including French fries. In the recent years, several techniques were developed by the scientific community in order to reduce this contaminant during frying but a review of industry practices was still lacking", says Raquel Medeiros Vinci, a PhD student at Ghent University in the lab of Prof. B. De Meulenaer and Dr. F. Mestdagh. Raquel investigated innovative techniques for the reduction of acrylamide in French fries. This study was done in collaboration with the potato processing industry (Belgapom and EUPPA, European Potato Processors' Association) and Flanders' Food.
Improved processes result in a reduction of acrylamide
During this research two strategies were tested to reduce acrylamide in French fries on an industrial scale. The first considers the raw material selection of potatoes upon arrival at the factory. Therefore the relationship between the sugar content of potato tuber, the formation of acrylamide and the color of the baked product was evaluated. Results revealed that it is possible to identify potato batches susceptible for acrylamide formation before these enter production. This gives the potato processing industry the possibility to refuse the batch for French fries production or to adjust their process parameters to lower the risk of acrylamide formation. Accordingly, the potato processing industry currently succeeds in lowering the risk of acrylamide formation in their final products.
Furthermore, potatoes were subjected to various pre-treatments during production on industrial scale of pre-frozen French fries in order to find measures to further reduce acrylamide formation upon final frying of the product. The pre-treatments tested were food acids, salts and the enzyme asparaginase. Although these components significantly reduced acrylamide during laboratory experiments, their application on industrial scale did not result in further acrylamide reductions in pre-frozen French fries.