Acrylamide content of commercial frying oil.

After Swedish researchers reported that heated foods such as potato chips and French fries contain acrylamide, the potential for health damage resulting from the consumption of these foods became a widespread concern. Used frying oils collected from food manufacturing companies were subjected to acrylamide determination using GC/MS-SIM, but the compound was not detected. Thus, we conclude that frying oil used in deep frying would not contaminate foodstuffs with acrylamide and that the recovered oil, much of which is used as a component of animal feeds, would be safe for livestock. Model experiments heating oil at 180 degrees C suggested that no acrylamide was formed either from a mixture of major amino acids exuded from frying foodstuffs and carbonyl compounds generated from oxidized oil, or from oil and ammonia generated from amino acids.