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California Wants to Serve a Warning With Fries III

September 21st, 2005

Published: September 21, 2005
(Page 3 of 3)

In a July 2003 letter, Lester M. Crawford, then a deputy commissioner and now commissioner of the agency, warned that any of California’s attempts to regulate acrylamide could “directly conflict with federal law.” The F.D.A. says it has broad authority to regulate the labels of food products.

Terry C. Troxell, director for the office of plant and dairy foods at the F.D.A., said that the agency had already spent millions financing acrylamide research. “This isn’t a simple situation,” Mr. Troxell said. “Acrylamide is interwoven with the way we prepare and cook our food.”

Mr. Weil charges that the agency is dragging its feet. “More research is good, but we’ve been waiting around on our own state agency and the F.D.A., which has been studying this for three years and hasn’t done anything,” he said. “And they have no schedule for when they’re going to do anything.”

Most food companies say they will continue to follow the agency’s lead. “If the F.D.A. or California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment ever changes the regulations, we will modify our standards to be in full compliance,” said Jonathan Blum, senior vice president of Yum Brands.

In the meantime, companies are taking some preliminary steps to find ways to reduce acrylamide levels. Frito-Lay says it has worked with Michael W. Pariza, a professor in the University of Wisconsin’s food microbiology and toxicology department, on acrylamide-reduction research.

But Professor Pariza, who is working with a consortium of 12 companies, says no one has found any clear solutions. “Anybody who thinks that companies can turn on a dime and fix this is wrong,” he said.

Scientists say that a simple and sure way to reduce acrylamide in food is to lower cooking temperatures. But this approach carries its own set of problems.

“You get French fries that are really just warm potatoes,” said Ken Lee, chairman of Ohio State University’s food science department and a member of the F.D.A.’s advisory committee on acrylamide.

Low cooking temperatures also produce cereal that is not crunchy and crackers that are less flavorful.

“This thing is a real scientific head-scratcher,” Professor Lee said.

Entry Filed under: Nutrition News

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