According to the original report of Hong Kong Committee, it was found that the safety test of this report mainly detected three substances: chloropropanediol, epoxypropanol and acrylamide. The former animal experiment will damage the kidney and affect the male reproductive system, while the latter is genotoxic and carcinogenic. Acrylamide is no stranger to us. Why is there acrylamide in cookies? Can it be avoided in daily life?
The Consumer Council of Hong Kong detected acrylamide as a carcinogen in five kinds of biscuits, including Oreo original mini-biscuits. Other biscuits were synthetic ping-pong biscuits, crispy cheese-flavored sandwich biscuits, Jacobs original butter biscuits 93% wheat cereal and Julius Raymond lemon-flavored sandwich biscuits, all of which were produced in Malaysia.
The Consumer Council of Hong Kong said that long-term intake of acrylamide in biscuits would lead to reproductive problems, while the Ministry of Health of Malaysia responded that the acrylamide content in these five biscuits did not exceed the EU standard of 350 micrograms per kilogram, posing little threat to human health.
The International Institute for Cancer Research under the World Health Organization classifies carcinogens into 1, 2A, 2B, 3 and 4 according to the sufficiency of carcinogen evidence. Acrylamide detected in five kinds of biscuits belongs to 2A carcinogen, that is, the evidence of carcinogenicity to humans is limited, but the evidence of carcinogenicity to animals is sufficient. In addition, in some animal experiments, researchers also found that acrylamide has potential neurotoxicity.
It is worth noting that acrylamide is hard to avoid in food, and it is not the first time that acrylamide has been detected in biscuits. Earlier, Huang Zeng, deputy director of the Nutrition Department of Cancer Hospital affiliated to Guangzhou Medical University, pointed out that acrylamide was not artificially added, and almost all starch-rich foods would produce carcinogenic acrylamide after frying.
Acrylamide is mainly formed in the cooking process of plant foods with high carbohydrate and low protein (above 120℃), and the optimum temperature for its formation is 140- 180℃. Acrylamide was not detected before food processing. When the processing temperature is low, such as water boiling, the degree of acrylamide is quite low. However, after the moisture content of baked and fried foods decreased and the surface temperature increased in the last stage, the acrylamide content was higher.
The higher the temperature, the longer the time, the less the water content, and the more acrylamide is produced. The cooking methods of roasting, roasting, frying and frying have higher temperature, faster water loss and more acrylamide than stewing, stewing, boiling, stewing and steaming.
Acrylamide belongs to Class 2A carcinogen, that is, there is limited evidence of carcinogenicity to humans, but abundant evidence of carcinogenicity to animals. It can only be said that it may lead to human cancer, but it does not necessarily lead to human cancer. Even so, in daily life, we should try to reduce the intake of acrylamide and eat less fried, barbecued and baked foods, and the cooking food is mainly blanched and steamed.
Control the intake of sugar, protein and fat in food. At the same time, the total amount of food should not be too much, and it is normal to be full at eight points per meal to prevent being too full and too thin. Food safety is the number one event on the table of the people, but it is difficult to completely prevent contact with carcinogens in daily life, and we don't have to panic too much. We only need to control the exposure level and intake, adhere to a balanced diet, and adhere to a healthy diet, which can reduce the risk.