WHO to Talk About Food Carcinogen Finding

MARC KAUFMAN / Washington Post 27apr02

The World Health Organization will gather experts for an "urgent" conference in June to assess the possible public health risks from acrylamide, the cancer-causing chemical that Swedish scientists reported this week was found at high levels in many fried and baked high-starch foods.

The WHO said the meeting, details of which were undetermined, was being called to analyze both the Swedish report and other information to determine the nature of the possible risk to people, to assess levels of acrylamide in food in nations other than Sweden, and to develop "appropriate guidance to reduce exposure to acrylamide."

The Swedish government on Wednesday announced the surprise discovery of significant levels of acrylamide in foods such as potato chips, french fries, crackers and cereals. Researchers concluded that the chemical was being produced during the cooking process because it was not present in the raw materials or in the foods if they were boiled instead of baked or fried.

Both the Swedish report and the Geneva-based WHO said there was no reason for people to change their diets because of the acrylamide finding. They also said it was unclear whether acrylamide in food is taken up by the human body at the same rate it is taken up from water, which has been more widely studied.

In past years, scientists have identified other potentially hazardous compounds in food but later determined that they were present in such small amounts that they posed no harm. Some scientists have also voiced skepticism about the methodology used in the acrylamide study and said it was unlikely to stand up to rigorous testing.

Nonetheless, the Swedish finding has led to a flurry of activity at the Food and Drug Administration and among food manufacturers in the United States as they try to learn more about the results. The study was announced by Sweden's National Food Administration, which said it did not wait to publish the results in a scientific journal, because of their pressing nature.

Officials at the FDA and the Grocery Manufacturers of America said yesterday that they hoped to get copies of the Swedish data soon so they can analyze the testing process and determine whether the results can be repeated. They said that the Swedish results should be considered preliminary.

"This is the first time the compound has been found in large amounts," said GMA spokesman Gene Grabowski. "The industry has been quite concerned and is trying hard to find out what's going on. Scientists haven't been able to assess the nature of what's really involved because the data is unobtainable."

Officials at the FDA said that acrylamide is used in the United States to make food packaging materials and that the agency was aware that it might show up "as a very minuscule contaminant." But they said it had never been detected at the high levels found by the Swedish researchers.

"Nobody would have hypothesized this finding," one FDA official said. "This is an issue of significant public interest, but we don't want to jump to any conclusions because we don't have the basic data."

The WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer has determined that, based on tests in animals, acrylamide is "probably carcinogenic to humans."

FAO cautious on findings of acrylamide in some fried and baked foods

FAO 26apr02

ROME, -- It is too early to reach any firm conclusions on the unexpected finding of the toxic chemical acrylamide in fried and baked food by Sweden's National Food Administration, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today. It added that it welcomed the suggestion by Swedish authorities to study the findings in co-operation with international organisations and has already requested access to the data.

FAO's comments came in the wake of an NFA announcement this week that a scientific group at the University of Stockholm found that acrylamide "probable human carcinogen" is formed during heating of starch-rich foods to high temperatures. The NFA also announced that it has developed a new, rapid method for the analysis of acrylamide in foods. It said the risks associated with acrylamide in foods are not new, but added that emerging knowledge may make it possible to reduce the risks that we have so far accepted without discussion.

Acrylamide is used in the manufacturing of plastics and is strictly controlled by environmental regulations. The new data claim that acrylamide is formed spontaneously in foods while frying potatoes, for example, or baking bread or cookies. However, Swedish authorities offered no explanation about how and why this occurs.

According to FAO, the toxicological effects of acrylamide are well known. It causes DNA damage and at high doses neurological and reproductive effects have been observed. Prolonged exposure has induced tumours in rats, but cancer in man has not been convincingly shown. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified acrylamide as a "probably carcinogenic to humans."

Dr. Manfred Luetzow, FAO's food chemicals expert in the Organization's Food and Nutrition Division, said: "We understand from the report that this is not a new risk. This contaminant has probably been present in such foods since mankind started to bake and fry. Unfortunately, the information available does not allow us to draw conclusions or to make recommendations for consumers or food manufacturers."

Dr. Luetzow said that the current FAO/WHO recommendation to consume a well-balanced and diversified diet prepared in ways that preserve nutrient contents is consistent with the new findings and does not need to be changed.

Link Seen Between Cooking, Cancer
Frying, Baking Starches Creates A Carcinogen

MARC KAUFMAN / Washington Post 25apr02

The process of frying and baking starchy foods such as potatoes and bread causes the formation of potentially harmful amounts of a chemical listed as a probable carcinogen, the Swedish government said yesterday.

The Swedish officials said they were so surprised by the information that they decided to make it public immediately, rather than wait for publication in a scientific journal.

"We found the substance at levels that, if it was just one product, we would ask that it be immediately taken off the market," said Leif Busk, head of the Research and Development Department of the Swedish National Food Administration. "But it is in foods that we cannot live without, so there is no question of prohibiting it."

Busk said that the chemical, acrylamide, which is used industrially in the manufacture of some plastics, is also apparently formed by the heating of starches. He said that there is no reason to think that acrylamide levels are higher in Swedish foods than in similar European or American products. Foods with especially high levels of the chemical included french fries, potato chips and crackers.

A Food and Drug Administration official said yesterday that the agency had not reviewed the report but that it considered the source to be "credible."

"We will move as expeditiously as possible to evaluate all data relevant to this issue to protect the public health," the official said.

The Swedish report said that high doses of acrylamide have been shown to cause cancers and that "it seems reasonable to conclude that a significant number, perhaps several hundred, of the annual cancer cases in Sweden can be attributed to acrylamide."

Speaking by telephone from Stockholm, Busk said his agency had asked Swedish food producers to study the phenomenon and try to find ways to cook their products without producing such high levels of acrylamide. But he also said that there was no reason to believe the presence of the chemical is new or produced by any particular frying or baking process.

"We have been eating these for generations," he said. "Finding this substance is a very positive development, because now we may be able to take new steps to reduce the risk of cancer."

Busk said the high acrylamide levels were initially discovered during a University of Stockholm study at a factory that used them industrially.

Researchers were surprised by the high levels found in both the workers and the people used for a control study. The Swedish government began testing acrylamide levels late last year and found that they were elevated in many starch-rich foods that had been baked or fried. They were not found, however, in raw or boiled foods, leading researchers to conclude they were formed by the cooking process.