Scientists from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) met this month to discuss 100 comments with the contributors on acrylamide in food, a contaminant that forms in starchy foods as a result of high temperature food processing, including cooking.
The comments and the productive follow-up meeting mainly focused on EFSA’s recent draft description of the potential health risks of acrylamide in food and estimation of human exposure to acrylamide in the diet.
In its July 2014 draft opinion, the authority provisionally concluded that “acrylamide in food potentially increases the risk of developing cancer for consumers in all age groups”.
The Commission considers the implementation of voluntary mitigation measures to reduce acrylamide levels in food unsatisfactory and variable among food business operators.
The Commission, together with risk managers in Member States, will discuss further measures at EU level to reduce acrylamide levels in food as low as reasonably achievable.
