Good news for all chip lovers
A HEALTHIER French fry is closer with genetically modified spuds that produces less harmful chemicals when fried.
The potatoes have also been genetically engineered to resist the disease that caused Irelands’s Great Potato Famine.
A submission by US company Simplot SPC International to permit foods like French fries and chips derived from the modified potatoes to be imported into Australia has been lodged with Food Standards Australia New Zealand.
“Six potato lines have been generated using a two-step transformation process on three potato varieties” SPS International said in its submission.
The spuds have been modified using existing potato genes with genes from a wild potato from South America. The potato produces less acrylamide.
Acrylamide is a chemical compound that occurs when potatoes, wheat, coffee, and other foods are cooked at high temperatures. The United States FDA and the European Food Safety Authority have classified acrylamide as a probable carcinogen. Regulatory bodies have advised limiting dietary intake of acrylamide.
Estimated dietary exposures of Australian consumers to acrylamide in food were investigated in the 24th Australian Total Diet Study and found to be a range “considered to be of concern to human health”.