Acrylamide's effect taking shape

Steve - as we reported back in September, Acrylamide: Public Enemy Number One, regulators' policies on acrylamide are taking form.

Acrylamide has been added to the candidate list for inclusion on the European Union’s Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) following a unanimous decision by an expert panel. Under the ECHA proposal, acrylamide has been listed as a category two carcinogen and a category two mutagen.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering issuing guidelines on acrylamide content in food and is currently seeking comments from industry on the issue.

Tolerable intakes of acrylamide should be set at 2.6 micrograms per kilogram of body weight to avoid the cancer risk, says a new toxicology study from the US. This would be equivalent to 182 micrograms for a 70 kg human as a tolerable daily intake (TDI) for carcinogenic levels. The TDI for neurotoxicity was found to be higher, at 40 micrograms per kg per day, or 2,800 micrograms per day for a 70 kg human. Both levels vastly exceed levels estimated by various national agencies or studies. Health Canada, for example, estimates the average exposure of adults to acrylamide in food to be between 0.3 and 0.4 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day, while a study from Sweden estimated intakes of about 0.5 micrograms per kilogram of bodyweight. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimated intakes to be around 0.4 micrograms per kilogram of bodyweight per day. The study was published in Food and Chemical Toxicology.