Acrylamide continues to be an important issue for health regulatory bodies around the world, with the European Food Safety Agency, Health Canada, Hong Kong, Japan and other countries issuing reports over the last two years emphasizing ways for food manufacturers to lower the acrylamide content in their products to as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) levels. Most recently, in June the FDA issued its voluntary guidelines for U.S.-based manufacturers, and the European Union has indicated it will set standards for acrylamide content.
Dietary acrylamide exposure has been a concern since 2002, the year Swedish scientists first discovered the possibly carcinogenic chemical in many commonly consumed foods.
When starchy, carbohydrate-based foods like potatoes are heated above 248 degrees by frying, baking, roasting or toasting, an amino acid they naturally contain, asparagine, reacts with sugars to form acrylamide. Although baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) has a natural ability to consume asparagine, under most food processing conditions this asparagine consumption is minimal. Therefore, conventional yeast is not effective at mitigating the issue of acrylamide. Instead, by using a classical adaptive evolutionary strategy to select for the yeast’s ability to quickly degrade asparagine in all conditions, Renaissance Ingredients has developed a non-GMO baker’s yeast strain capable of quickly reducing acrylamide in a wide variety of foods. Since yeast is a traditional food processing agent that has been used safely for thousands of years, it is a natural fit for food manufacturers who need to reduce the acrylamide content of their foods. Earlier this year, this acrylamide-reducing yeast received GRAS status from the FDA, the same status as traditional baker’s yeast.
Multiple studies from groups around the world confirm that french fries, chips and other fried potato products contain very high levels of acrylamide. Since fried potato products have become increasingly popular, they now represent a significant exposure threat to consumers because they can potentially provide 50 percent or more of the recommended daily dietary acrylamide exposure of adults. In-house laboratory testing by Renaissance shows that its acrylamide-reducing yeast is highly effective in significantly reducing the levels of acrylamide in these fried potato products.
For potato fries and chips, for instance, the company tested the ability of a “wash” of acrylamide-reducing yeast in water to consume the asparagine on the surface of potato slices before deep-frying. The test found that a short soak, before potato pieces are further processed, packaged and frozen, removes approximately 70 percent of asparagine present.
“We’re confident we’ll be able to collaborate with industry partners to apply our acrylamide-reducing yeast to a variety of potato products to deliver significant reductions in acrylamide,” said Renaissance president Matthew Dahabieh. This method is robust, consistent and minimally disruptive to both product sensory attributes and current industrial potato processing practices.”
Source: Potato Business