Acryl amide in French Fries
A Canadian research team identified the relationship between possible acryl amide precursors, namely sugars and amino acids, present in food and the level of acryl amide produced. French fries were used as the food item for the investigation. It was found that commercial French fries have levels of acryl amide between 60 and 1800 ng/g. Different levels of sugars and amino acids in the raw potatoes and different processing methods were suggested as the source of the variance in acryl amide levels.
Quality assessment of industrial preferred French fries
An industrial production of preferred French fries using palm oil as a frying medium was studied over a period of 12 days. Samples of oils and French fries were withdrawn once a day. The quality of both the oil and the French fries was assessed using two types of tests. Some tests, such as the determination of free fatty acid and the determination of thiobarbituric acid value, oxifritest and Food Oil Sensor correspond to what was used by a quality control laboratory. More elaborate techniques such as the determination of polar components, polymers and cyclic fatty acid monomers were also used. Only small increases of free fatty acid, thiobarbituric acid, polar components and polymers were observed. However, in the case of palm oil, which contains a high percentage of triglycerides, it is more reliable to determine the quality of the oil using the amount of polymers instead of polar components which may include some triglycerides. Thus a high 'polar components' value (up to 20-25%) would not necessarily reflect an altered sample. The maximum amount of cyclic fatty acid monomers detected was 0.1% and they did not seem to be preferentially adsorbed on the French fries. These results, along with the sensory evaluations, showed that the French fries obtained in these production conditions were of good quality as far as the fat was concerned.
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