America's most popular vegetables -- golden brown french fries and crispy potato chips -- aren't just loaded with fat and sodium. Starchy fried foods also can contain a chemical called acrylamide that is quietly raising concern as a potential human carcinogen.
A natural byproduct of cooking high-carbohydrate foods at high temperatures, acrylamide also turns up in a wide variety of roasted and baked foods, including breakfast cereal, baby food, bread and crackers.
Research has shown that the chemical can cause tumors and neurological problems in lab animals when they are fed unnaturally large doses.
So far, U.S. consumers don't seem worried; surveys show most people have never heard of acrylamide, even though it turns up in about 40 percent of food.
But federal governing bodies in the U.S., Canada and Europe are stepping up efforts to deal with the chemical, and food-industry chemists already are aggressively pursuing ways to reduce it in their products.
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