Comments on: Regulating potato chip recipes

By: Ralph

Ralph — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:28:35 +0000

We just need to stop cooking food, and eat “naturally”, and then all of our problems would go away.

Yeah, sure…

By: Deoxy

Deoxy — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:33:53 +0000

What would be funny is if the anti-acrylamide chemical caused even worse cancer.

Actually, that’s not funny anymore. It was funny the first time, maybe the second, but it’s happened so many times now that it is A) no longer funny, and B) completely expected. What would be funny is if it DIDN’T cause more problems than it claims to solve.

By: kushiro

kushiro — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:53:57 +0000

I’d say that’s fairly unlikely to happen, Jim, given the process involved. The enzyme (which is, yes, a “chemical”, but then so is water) is added prior to the cooking process, to get rid of the precursor (in this case, an amino acid called asparagine). The subsequent heating would be more than enough to denature the enzyme (i.e. cause it to lose the 3D shape, thus rendering it unable to function).

Whether or not the levels of acrylamide present in heated foods — and whatever associated risk of negative health effects — really call for this process is, of course, another story.

By: Jim W

Jim W — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:56:37 +0000

What would be funny is if the anti-acrylamide chemical caused even worse cancer.

I’m reminded of that old Sealab 2021 episode where Marco ate whale cancer.