In California....
That nasty cancer-causing chemical acrylamide will be no more in potato chips. No longer in fries and tater tots, either. And companies will pay, including Heinz and Frito-Lay.
"Acrylamide is produced when potatoes and other starchy foods are cooked at high temperatures. It is used industrially for treating sewage, and its presence in food was unknown in 1990 when California listed the chemical as a cancer-causing substance under Proposition 65. That initiative, passed in 1986, requires companies to post warnings of exposure to substances that cause cancer or birth defects.Swedish scientists were the first to detect acrylamide in food in a 2002 study. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is studying the chemical but has not imposed nationwide restrictions. The FDA has advised consumers that they can reduce the levels of acrylamide in fried potatoes by not over-browning them while cooking.
The settlement requires the potato chip producers to reduce acrylamide to 275 parts per billion in three years, a low enough level to avoid a Prop. 65 warning label. That amounts to a 20 percent reduction for Frito-Lay and an 87 percent reduction for Kettle Chips, Brown's office said. Little or no reduction will be needed for most Cape Cod chips, but one product, Cape Cod Robust Russets, will require a warning label, the attorney general said."
So why aren't there nationwide restrictions?
Read complete article HERE
