FDA researchers have tested more than 700 food products for acrylamide and detected it in a broad range of items, from Kellogg's Raisin Bran and Taster's Choice Gourmet Roast instant coffee to fried potatoes from four Popeyes fast-food locations.
The FDA wants to find alternative cooking techniques that lower acrylamide content. At the same time, the agency is trying to assess any health risks. For the time being, it is simply advising the public to "continue eating a balanced diet" and to cook foods thoroughly to kill bacteria. The FDA might conduct a more detailed public awareness campaign in coming years to warn Americans about acrylamide.
"If we decide at the end of the day that there is a substantial risk here, that will suggest significant changes need to be made in the food supply," said Terry C. Troxell, director of the FDA's office of plant and dairy foods. "Before we do that, we have to be careful, because that could have an effect on nutrition. Before we do that, we want to make sure we have the data right."
In California, Proposition 65 has forced environmental health officials to react more swiftly. Before the Swedes found acrylamide in food, the state had already set 0.2 micrograms per day as the exposure point where a public acrylamide notice might be required. Some French fries have 100 times as much.
Michele B. Corash, a lawyer who wrote the ballot arguments against Proposition 65 and has challenged it in several cases since, is defending Burger King in the suit demanding that the fast-food chain put up warnings. She also is representing a coalition of restaurants and grocery chains worried that they too will have to notify customers.
The bigger corporate players, Corash said, would fight vigorously to avoid warnings. But many small businesses would simply post them to avoid long and expensive legal battles, even though they too would find the idea of cancer-causing French fries absurd.
"To say to Joe's Diner that they have to be prepared to go to trial, to hire expert witnesses, in order to serve a piece of toast with eggs over easy," Corash said. "That is just goofy."
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Fries with that?
Cooking foods at high temperatures may produce acrylamide, which causes cancer in lab animals. The risk of small levels found in food remains unclear. The FDA is testing foods for the chemical but cautions that the results should not be used to make food choices.
