Fries and chips: pay attention to cancer risk

Fries and chips: pay attention to cancer risk

Consume chips, chips or biscuits, we knew it was not the ideal diet for our health. But we discover that these foods are even more toxic than we thought. Ten consumer associations sound the alarm. In the spotlight of this new controversy: acrylamide, a potentially carcinogenic substance that forms at the time of cooking at high temperature.

The European Bureau of Consumer Unions (Beuc) has analyzed five hundred foods containing acrylamide and found the presence of too high levels. Thus, one third of the cookies analyzed exceed the recommended threshold. This is all the more worrying as these products are often consumed by children under three years of age, while at this age the allowed threshold in acrylamide is even lower ... The analyzes also showed that 8% of the chips and 2% of French fries did not comply with the standards in force.

In April 2018, the European Union issued a text to regulate the content of acrylamide in industrial products, fast food and restaurants. It is clear that he is not respected. Beuc is asking for a lowering of the thresholds in force and more restrictive measures to push the manufacturers to respect them. However, acrylamide does not only concern industrial products, it is also present in home cooking as long as food is cooked at too high a temperature. The Beuc recommends not to overheat the cooking and frying oil to more than 120 degrees, not to overdo brown food and remove the most browned parts ...