| Health Canada To Add Anti-
Cancer Drugs To Junk Food
Health Canada
is asking Canadians if they think a cancer-fighting enzyme should
be added to junk food.
Putting the enzyme asparaginase in baked and fried food is a
"high priority" for Health Canada, the government said
Tuesday in calling for comments.
Canada is following the lead of Singapore, the Netherlands, Australia,
New Zealand, Switzerland, Denmark, Mexico and Russia.
Companies such as McCain's and Frito Lay are urging Ottawa to
approve the food additive and any other substance that cuts down
on the levels in processed food, junk food, bread and cereal of
a probable carcinogen.
A joint study by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and
the World Health Organization approved adding the enzyme asparaginase
to potato chips, French fries and packaged cookies in 2005.
A Swedish study in 2002 had set off alarms among consumers and
the food industry worldwide when it discovered high levels of
what was considered a probable carcinogen, acrylamide, formed
in some food after high-temperature frying or baking.
Denmark moved first to include it, followed by the U.S. and,
in May 2008, Australia and New Zealand. China gave the additive
regulatory approval in October.
Canada started the long process of changing government regulations
to allow the food additive nearly a year ago, when the government
asked the opinions of food industry groups including the Baking
Association of Canada, McCain Foods and Frito Lay Canada.
Asparaginase got a thumbs-up from all of them, Health Canada
said, and they asked the government to "treat the approval
of all tools with the potential of reducing acrylamide formation
in food as a high priority," the government says on its website.
The enzyme reduces the levels of L-asparagine, a precursor of
acrylamide, which forms in starchy food that is baked or fried
at temperatures above 120 C: bread, crackers, cookies, French
fries and potato chips are examples.
Danish tests, cited by Food Standards Australia New Zealand,
said the formation of acrylamide dropped by 36 to 75 percent
in bread and by 86 to 92 percent in fritters, doughnuts, Dutch
honey cake and crackers.
The European Food and Drink Federation, a food industry lobby,
has been offering asparaginase information pamphlets for several
years, with the latest updates in February 2009, incorporating
U.S. food industry standards.
"Use of asparaginase is effective in biscuits, cereals,
crisp bread, and is today applied to commercial products (e.g.
gingerbread, crispbread, short sweet biscuits, RTE cereals, certain
cereal-based snacks) with potential also in other biscuit and
cereal product types," the pamphlets say.
Anti-food additive organizations have argued other means can
also neutralize the damage of the carcinogen.
Kit Granby, a senior scientist at the National Food Institute,
Technical University of Denmark, has reported on studies that
found the herb rosemary is also effective in reducing acrylamide
content in food by up to 60 percent.
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