Government food scientist is warning people about browned toast and potatoes, people should prevent on overly toasting and overly roasting these foods. Because overly cooked bread, chips and potatoes produce chemicals which could cause cancer. Acrylamide is produced when starchy foods are roasted, fried or grilled for too long at high temperatures.
The Food Standards Agency advice to follow carefully cooking instructions and avoid browning. Nevertheless, a Cancer Research spokeswoman said the link was not proven in humans. The Food Standard Agency also says that potatoes are not supposed to be kept in the fridge. This is because the sugar level of potatoes increases in cold temperature. This causes a potential increase in producing acrylamide during cooking.
Acrylamide is present in food, such as in browned toast and potatoes, but the production is triggered in the cooking process. The highest level of this substance is in food that has a high starch content and is cooked above 120 degrees Celsius. Examples are crisps, bread, breakfast cereals, biscuits, crackers, cakes and coffee.
It can also be produced during home cooking specially when cooking involves food with high starch contents. According to the BBC, when bread is grilled to make toast, for example, this causes more acrylamide to be produced. The darker the colour of the toast, the more acrylamide is present. During the browning process, the sugar, amino acids and water present in the bread combine to create colour and acrylamide.
According to the I News, there are four guidelines as the Food Standards Agency recommends, the first is to “go for gold”, wherein when cooking people must aim on a golden yellow color or lighter when frying, baking, toasting or roasting starchy foods like potatoes, root vegetables and bread. Next is to “check the pack” follow carefully the instructions on how to cook the certain food. Another is to “eat a varied and balanced diet,” this will help reduce exposure to cancer causing foods. “Don’t keep raw potatoes in the fridge” as earlier mentioned above that this could potentially increase the production of acrylamide during cooking. If people would follow this advices and prevent on overcooking like browned toast and potatoes then you are one step away from cancer causing foods.