New Tests Confirm Acrylamide in American Foods ~ Newsroom ~ News from CSPI

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New Tests Confirm Acrylamide in American Foods

 

Snack Chips, French Fries Show Highest Levels Of Known Carcinogen

CSPI Calls On FDA To Test More Food

 

Popular American brands of snack chips and French fries contain disturbingly

high levels of acrylamide, according to new laboratory tests commissioned by the

Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). The tests were conducted by

the same Swedish government scientists that two months ago first discovered the

cancer-causing chemical in certain fried and baked starchy foods. CSPI’s tests

included several popular brands of snack chips, taco shells, French fries, and

breakfast cereals—the kinds of foods that were initially shown to have some of

the highest acrylamide levels.

 

Today is the first day of a three-day closed meeting in Geneva of experts

convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) to discuss the health

ramifications of the acrylamide discovery, which has since been confirmed by the

British, Swiss, and Norwegian governments. The United States Food and Drug

Administration (FDA) though, has been standing on the sidelines of what is fast

becoming a major global debate, according to CSPI, which today called on the

agency to treat acrylamide with greater seriousness.

 

“The FDA has been strangely silent about acrylamide,” CSPI executive director

Michael F. Jacobson said. “It should be advising consumers to avoid or cut back

on the most contaminated and least nutritious foods while more testing is done

across the food supply. The FDA also should be intensively investigating ways of

preventing the formation of this carcinogen.”

 

Fast-food French fries showed the highest levels of acrylamide among the foods

CSPI had tested, with large orders containing 39 to 72 micrograms. One-ounce

portions of Pringles potato crisps contained about 25 micrograms, with

corn-based Fritos and Tostitos containing half that amount or less. Regular and

Honey Nut Cheerios contained 6 or 7 micrograms of the carcinogenic substance.

Among the findings:

 

Acrylamide in Foods: Micrograms per Serving

Water, 8 oz., EPA limit 0.12

Boiled Potatoes, 4 oz. <3

Old El Paso Taco Shells, 3, 1.1oz. 1

Ore Ida French Fries (from package), 3 oz. 5

Ore Ida French Fries (baked), 3 oz. 28

Honey Nut Cheerios, 1 oz. 6

Cheerios, 1 oz. 7

Tostitos Tortilla Chips, 1 oz. 3

Fritos Corn Chips, 1 oz. 11

Pringles Potato Crisps, 1 oz. 25

Wendy’s French Fries, Biggie, 5.5 oz. 39

KFC Potato Wedges, Jumbo, 6.2 oz. (est.) 52

Burger King French Fries, large, 5.5 oz. 57

McDonald’s French Fries, large, 6 oz. 72

 

 

The amount of acrylamide in a large order of fast-food French fries is at least

300 times more than what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allows in a

glass of water. Acrylamide is sometimes used in water-treatment facilities.

 

“I estimate that acrylamide causes several thousand cancers per year in

Americans,” said Clark University research professor Dale Hattis. Hattis, an

expert in risk analysis, based his estimate on standard EPA projections of risks

from animal studies and limited sampling of acrylamide levels in Swedish and

American foods.

 

Acrylamide forms as a result of unknown chemical reactions during

high-temperature baking or frying. Raw or even boiled potatoes test negative for

the chemical. CSPI today urged the FDA to inform the public of the risks from

acrylamide in different foods, and to work with industry and academia to

understand how acrylamide is formed and how to prevent its formation.

 

“There has long been reason for Americans to eat less greasy French fries and

snack chips,” Jacobson said. “Acrylamide is yet another reason to eat less of

those foods.”

 

A California attorney has formally demanded that McDonald’s and Burger King

place a cancer warning on their French fries, as required by the state’s

Proposition 65. Burger King faces a legal deadline of late June and McDonald’s

of early July to respond.

 

 

 

 

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