Dive Brief:
- The FDA released final guidelines today for reducing acrylamide in foods. It's a chemical that can develop in high temperature-cooking.
- The agency suggests companies monitor foods for acrylamide levels and provides actions that manufacturers and other food industry entities can use to help limit acrylamide levels.
- The guidance is geared toward raw materials, processing practices, and ingredients that relate to potato-based foods, cereal-based foods, and coffee, according to a news release.
Dive Insight:
In November 2013 the FDA issued non-binding guidelines concerning acrylamide, but had otherwise taken a wait-and-see approach.
The industry has already been making efforts to reduce acrylamide. Renaissance BioScience and its wholly owned subsidiary Renaissance Ingredients Inc. submitted a provisional patent application last summer to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for non-GMO acrylamide-reducing baker's yeast.
Given the National Toxicology Program considers acrylamide "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen," and the World Health Organization lists acrylamide as a Group IIA carcinogen, the FDA's update makes sense. This latest step could open new opportunities for ingredient manufacturers to attract customers.