French-fry chemical may go on toxic list
Reported February 21, 2009
Worries that Canadians might be inadvertently ingesting too much cancer-causing acrylamide from French fries, potato chips and other processed foods has prompted Health Canada to recommend adding the chemical to the country’s toxic substances list.
Acrylamide is an industrial chemical that isn’t naturally found in foods, but is produced accidentally when sugars and other items in potatoes and grains are exposed to high cooking temperatures.
It has also been detected in breakfast cereals, pastries, cookies, breads, rolls, toast, cocoa products and coffee, although at levels far below those in fried potato products.
The decision to recommend placing acrylamide on the toxic list is being announced in today’s Canada Gazette, and is part of an ongoing review by the federal government of nearly two hundred potentially harmful substances in widespread commercial use that have never been subject to extensive safety assessments.
The gazette notice on the chemical, which was posted on the Internet yesterday afternoon, said the toxic listing was based on the “carcinogenic potential” of acrylamide and the lack of an adequate safety margin at current exposures for causing reproductive and developmental harm during fetal and early life development.
The government didn’t announce specific steps to control exposures to acrylamide in fries and chips, but said that it planned to use the Food and Drugs Act “to reduce the inadvertent production of acrylamide in certain processed foods intended for human consumption.”
Acrylamide is also used to make polymers found in grout, cement, waste water treatment, pesticides, cosmetics, and diapers, among other products. The data posted by the government didn’t give any indication that these non-food uses would be regulated.
The toxic announcement was greeted positively by environmentalists, who have been arguing that potentially dangerous chemicals in consumer goods need to be limited.
“We think it’s particularly important to list the chemicals that are in common, everyday items,” said Aaron Freeman, a spokesman for Environmental Defence, a Toronto-based advocacy group. He said the government should move quickly to introduce control measures.