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Reducing
Carcinogen Potential In Foods
Acrylamide is considered to be a probable carcinogen
and is produced from foods such as potatoes, coffee, wheat and
other cereals when they are cooked at high temperatures. Reduced
cooking times and temperatures can help to decrease this potentially
harmful chemical but scientists at Rothamsted Research and the
University of Reading are trying to tackle this problem from its
source by investigating how to reduce the precursors of acrylamide
in cereal plants.
Acrylamide is formed from asparagine and sugars at high temperatures
when they are fried, baked or roasted. Prof. Halford has found that
this problem is exacerbated by the fact that growing wheat in low
sulphur soil conditions drastically increases the amount of asparagine
in the grain of the plants and thus the amount of acrylamide produced.
With over 20% of soils in Europe, Australia and other developed
countries demonstrating low sulphur levels in their soils Prof.
Halford suggests that the risk of acrylamide formation could be
reduced by ensuring that cereals grown in low sulphur conditions
do not enter the food chain. "If the European Commission
or the Food Standards Agency were to set maximum allowable levels
of asparagine in cereals used in the food chain it would impact
on farmers and plant breeders", says Prof. Halford.
They reported their findings at the Society for Experimental
Biology's Annual Main Meeting in Glasgow on Sunday 1st April.
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