Fried dough sticks and brown sugar have high acrylamide levels; the Food and Drug Administration plans to set guideline values to reduce cancer risk

Media outlets reported extensively that commercially sold brown sugar products contain the possible carcinogen acrylamide, triggering debate on all sides; some experts even questioned whether the government, after years of unwillingness to openly discuss the issue of acrylamide in food, was suspected of trying to conceal it. (Photo above: photo credit: DSC05866 via photopin (license))

So what has our country's food regulatory authority actually done since Sweden discovered acrylamide in food in 2002? The Food and Drug Administration will also hold an expert meeting tomorrow; what further measures will it take on acrylamide management? NewsMarket conducted an exclusive interview with Cheng Wei-chih, section chief of the Food Division of the Food and Drug Administration under the Ministry of Health and Welfare. He said that in addition to the internationally watched french fries and potato chips, fried dough sticks and brown sugar, which are local specialties of Taiwan, are foods with relatively high acrylamide levels, and the FDA will give priority to setting enterprise guideline values for these.

The following is the exclusive interview with Cheng Wei-chih.

photo credit: Chips and Salsa via photopin (license)

Q: Regarding the setting of enterprise guideline values, the European Food Safety Authority set them as early as 2011 and lowered the figures in 2013 and 2015 respectively. Some scholars criticized the FDA for only deciding to open discussions this year, clearly moving at a snail's pace in management. How do you see this?

A: When we investigated acrylamide levels in commercially sold foods and built a database, the international European Food and Drink Industry Confederation had introduced many reduction methods for various foods, but foods more particular to Taiwan, including fried dough sticks and brown sugar, were not included, so in 2011 we commissioned scholars to conduct research, compiled it into a volume, and published the "Processing Reference Manual for Reducing Acrylamide Content in Foods."

Setting guideline values is certainly very important, but we do not want to set standards that industry operators cannot meet, or for which they do not know what methods they can refer to, so while the European Food Safety Authority was investing in setting guideline values, we chose to first study reduction methods, and the information recorded in this manual was also promoted to the industry through the internet and the FDA's non-registration-not-allowed mechanism.

Since the public hearing was held in April, schools have also begun to pay attention to the issue of acrylamide in food, and the FDA has also participated many times in teacher training and related activities to promote this toxic substance to teachers.

Q: Will the enterprise guideline values formulated in the future have legal force? How should the FDA ensure that industry operators actually make improvements and reassure consumers?

A: At tomorrow's expert meeting, we will evaluate based on risk assessment, feasibility of reduction and other data. The enterprise guideline values formulated will be an indicator for industry operators' reference, not a penalty standard, so they will not be incorporated into regulations. However, through the FDA's subsequent market monitoring and oversight by the media and civil consumer groups, industry operators will come under pressure, and I believe acrylamide levels in various foods will gradually decrease.

Looking at the direction of the figures likely to be discussed at present, for our country's french fries and potato chips, after assessing the feasibility of reduction by our country's industry operators, the values may be set according to those announced by the European Food Safety Authority in 2013, namely 600 μg/kg and 1000 μg/kg.

As for local foods, fried dough sticks and brown sugar will tend to be discussed below 1000 μg/kg. For these two foods, the FDA introduces reduction methods separately in the "Processing Reference Manual for Reducing Acrylamide Content in Foods."

For brown sugar, adding salts or other types of amino acids during processing are reduction practices that are easy for industry operators to obtain and relatively economical, and we believe it is possible for industry operators to work in this direction.

I must emphasize that in facing the issue of acrylamide in food, we have all along been moving forward in step with the international community. After all, its carcinogenicity to humans has not yet been determined, and it is even less a black-hearted food maliciously added by industry operators.

Therefore, in setting guideline values, we hope to form a public-private partnership, so that in the future it may be possible, as with the European Food Safety Authority's approach, to lower the figures again every few years, and all of this takes time; it cannot be achieved overnight.