Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the store, periodic reports of serious food contamination remind us that food safety still requires consumer diligence.
Unfortunately, diligence means more than ensuring that our food is free of contaminants such as harmful bacteria or dangerous chemicals. The savvy consumer must also make informed choices with potential long term problems in mind. The list of potential long-term health ambushes in our diet is already long. But, alas, has room for more.
A 2002 article in the UK Guardian outlines new concerns identified for a group of known carcinogens, acrylamides. Already identified as potentially harmful to humans in connection with their use in manufacturing and industrial processes, acrylamides are a relative newcomer to the food safety discussion.
A common food group for these unwelcome compounds? Starchy foods subjected to high heat, such as french fries or potato chips, or even some baked foods. One official quoted in the UK article likened the potential health impact to that of tobacco in our current culture. But you can do your own homework to decide.
Even if the degree of concern is being overstated with a comparison to tobacco, this new information signals another reason to look hard at our convenience food choices. In the U.S. we spend as much as 90% of our food dollars on processed foods, a category more likely to contain acrylamides as a by-product.
Which is yet another reason to shift more of our food purchases toward healthier choices such as fruits and vegetables, especially raw and unprocessed produce. And to double-check that nutritional regimens are optimally supporting built-in defense and repair systems.
For more on acrylamides, see this FAQ from the World Health Organization.
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