Abstract
Acrylamide, a suspected human carcinogen, is a Maillard reaction product that forms when carbohydrate-rich foods are cooked at high temperatures. Processed potato products, including French fries and potato chips, make a substantial contribution to total dietary acrylamide. Health safety concerns raised by acrylamide in food increased financial risks to the potato industry and encouraged industry to take a proactive approach toward acrylamide mitigation. The USDA National Institutes of Food and Agriculture Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) on acrylamide reduction in potato was a cooperative endeavor in which industry partners worked at a systems level with university and government researchers to develop acrylamide mitigation strategies. Short-term goals focused on identifying advanced breeding clones and recently released varieties that have lower acrylamide-forming potential than standard potato varieties. Research was also directed at developing more efficient potato breeding methods, including marker-assisted breeding, genome wide selection, and improved phenotyping methods. Data from the National Fry Processing Trial (NFPT) and SCRI agronomic trial have shown that dramatic reductions in acrylamide are achievable through the use of new varieties that maintain low concentrations of tuber reducing sugars. Chipping potato trials coordinated by Potatoes USA and data from breeding populations suggest that maintaining low tuber reducing sugars through extended storage and lowering tuber asparagine content are options for decreasing acrylamide content in potato chips. To have an impact, new varieties must have exceptional agronomic performance and must produce finished products that meet requirements for consumer attributes including color, texture and taste. Data consistently show that this is more easily achievable in chipping potatoes than in fry processing potatoes.
Resumen
La acrilamida, un posible cancerígeno humano, es un producto de la reacción de Maillard que se forma cuando alimentos ricos en carbohidratos se cocinan a altas temperaturas. Los productos procesados de papa, incluyendo las papas a la francesa y las hojuelas, hacen una contribución substancial para la acrilamida total en la dieta. Las preocupaciones en la seguridad de la salud, surgidas por la acrilamida en los alimentos, aumentó los riesgos financieros a la industria de la papa y estimuló a la industria a tomar una estrategia proactiva hacia la mitigación de la acrilamida. La Iniciativa de Investigación en Cultivos de Especialidad de los Institutos Nacionales de Alimentos y Agricultura del Departamento de Agricultura de los Estados Unidos (SCRI, por sus siglas en inglés) sobre la reducción de la acrilamida en papa, fue un esfuerzo de cooperación en el cual los socios de la industria trabajaron a nivel de sistemas con investigadores de universidades y del gobierno, para desarrollar estrategias de mitigación de la acrilamida. Las metas de corto plazo se enfocaron en la identificación de clones avanzados de mejoramiento y de variedades liberadas recientemente, que tienen un potencial más bajo de formación de acrilamida que las variedades comunes de papa. También se dirigió la investigación al desarrollo de métodos de mejoramiento genético más eficiente en papa, incluyendo el mejoramiento asistido con marcadores, amplia selección de genomios, y métodos mejorados para la descripción fenotípica. Datos del Ensayo Nacional en Procesamiento de Freído (NFPT) y el ensayo agronómico del SCRI, han mostrado que reducciones dramáticas en acrilamida son alcanzables a través del uso de nuevas variedades que mantienen bajas concentraciones de azúcares reductores en el tubérculo. Ensayos de freído en papa coordinados por Potatoes USA y datos de poblaciones de mejoramiento sugieren que manteniendo bajos los azúcares reductores de tubérculo mediante almacenamiento extendido y bajando el contenido de asparagina de tubérculo, son opciones para disminuir el contenido de acrilamida en las papas fritas. Para tener un impacto, las nuevas variedades deben tener comportamiento agronómico excepcional, y deben producir productos terminados que reúnan los requerimientos respecto a los atributos para el consumidor, incluyendo el color, textura y sabor. Los datos demuestran consistentemente que es más fácilmente alcanzable en papas fritas que en las de procesamiento.
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Acknowledgements
Financial support for the SCRI acrylamide project was provided by USDA-NIFA-SCRI Grant No. 2011-51181-30629 (Improved Breeding and Variety Evaluation Methods to Reduce Acrylamide Content and Increase Quality in Processed Potato Products). Special thanks are offered to John Keeling of the National Potato Council and Tim O’Connor (formerly with the US Potato Board) for guidance and encouragement as the project was being developed. Members of the SCRI acrylamide Advisory Committee, agronomists and food processing experts from companies that manufacture potato chips and French fries, representatives of potato growers from across the US, and experts from quick service restaurants contributed to this project through their participation in multiple meetings and conference calls. Their commitment of time, expert advice and constructive feedback was extremely important to this project and is gratefully acknowledged. Special thanks are given to the potato breeders who contributed advanced selections to the NFPT, NCPT, SCRI agronomic trial and other research trials that were key components of the SCRI acrylamide project. We would also like to thank David Parish and Paul Voglewede at AIS Consulting for their assistance in organizing and reporting variety evaluation efforts. Finally, we express our appreciation to Marty Glynn and Darrin Haagenson and the staff at the USDA Sugarbeet and Potato worksite in East Grand forks MN for their essential contribution to the NFPT.
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We dedicate this manuscript to Marty Glynn on the occasion of his retirement from USDA after 44 years of tireless service to the US potato industry.
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Bethke, P.C. Progress and Successes of the Specialty Crop Research Initiative on Acrylamide Reduction in Processed Potato Products. Am. J. Potato Res. 95, 328–337 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12230-018-9660-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12230-018-9660-2