It is now 15 years since the occurrence of acrylamide, a probable carcinogen, in cooked foods was first reported. This presented enormous challenges to the food processing industry. As a consequence, a very large volume of work in academia and the food industry has been conducted to understand how acrylamide is formed and to examine approaches that could be adopted to minimise its occurrence. The mechanism of acrylamide formation via the Maillard reaction is well established. However, providing means of mitigating its formation in thermally processed foods, while maintaining the characteristic flavors and colors that are also formed in the Maillard reaction, has presented a challenge. While complete elimination of acrylamide from food has proved to be unachievable, advances have been made in reducing its level through modification to processing methods, plant breeding and agronomy. This presentation will consider these mitigation strategies and will use extensive data acquired from potato chips to show the extent to which acrylamide has decreased in this widely consumed snack food since 2002.

Mitigation of the formation of acrylamide in foods – what has been achieved?

254th National Meeting (2017)

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