Chapter 3 - Trends of changes in the content of acrylamide in food in Europe, 2002–2019

Abstract

Acrylamide is a “probably carcinogenic to humans” monomer that can form in heated starchy food, mainly as a product of the Maillard reaction. The purpose of this chapter is to review the trends in changing acrylamide levels in food in Europe over the period of 20 years since the first report of high acrylamide content in heat-treated food. The review presents the results of a trend analysis of acrylamide levels in food products based on four different databases. The analysis of trends in changing acrylamide levels in food in the years 2007–10 based on a report by the European Food Safety Authority indicates a “common European trend” of decreasing acrylamide levels in only one food category and increasing others. However, the presented results from Poland, covering the period 2007–19, show a decrease in acrylamide level in several food categories. This may indicate the effectiveness of the voluntary mitigation strategy used by food producers. Nevertheless, it should be remembered that the trend observed concerns only one country. Similar conclusions can be drawn from the analysis of the European Snack Association database on changes in acrylamide content in potato crisps, carried out by Powers et al. in 2021, but only for the years 2002–11. The plateau of acrylamide levels in potato crisps in 2011–19, as observed by these authors, suggests that further reduction of acrylamide content in potato crisps may be difficult to achieve. Further efforts are needed to reduce the acrylamide content in various product categories.