Scientists Create Low-Acrylamide Potatoes

MADISON, Wis.University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists have developed a new variety of potato that helps reduce acrylamide during the cooking process, according to a new study published in the journal Crop Science. The findings may one day help producers significantly reduce food waste.

Researchers from UW-M, Inner Mongolian University and USDAs Agricultural Research Service (ARS) isolated a single protein in potatoes responsible for acrylamide produced when cooking at high temperatures. Because fry and chip processors need potatoes year round, most of the fall harvest goes into storage where low temperatures can cause simple sugars to accumulate in the tubers. During cooking, the sugars react with free amino acids to produce acrylamide. The same reaction also causes fries and chips to turn dark brown during processing, making them unsalable.

The team inserted a small segment of a potato's own DNA back into its genome. The extra DNA helps block a single genethe vacuolar acid invertase gene, which codes for an enzymethat's responsible for converting sucrose into glucose and fructose, the sugars that cause both acrylamide formation and browning. The approach was used successfully with four potato varieties currently in commercial production.

"Regular potato chips can have acrylamide levels up around 1,000 parts per billion," the researchers said. "Ours are down around 200."