Acrylamide reduction solutions with Acrylaway®

Growing consumer awareness of acrylamide risks: Anticipate legislation to build consumer trust

More and more consumers are becoming aware of the potential risks of acrylamide in food, which is partly a result of increasing legislative activity around acrylamide. Both the USFDA and the EU warn that acrylamide may have carcinogenic effects. In the US, acrylamide is on the State of California’s proposition 65 list. In Europe a wide range of foods are subject to acrylamide monitoring under a benchmarking system.

More baked goods being monitored

As well as this potential tightening of legislations, the EU recently broadened the list of baked goods to be monitored. The full list now includes pitta and specialty breads, pancakes, tortillas, churros, doughnuts and croissants. It also covers a wide range of rolls, including hamburger and whole wheat rolls.

A proposed change to EU legislation on acrylamide would introduce maximum acrylamide limits across countries in the Union. If your products exceed those limits, it’s likely that you’ll have to stop marketing them. They could even be recalled.

The legislation is predicted to impact European consumers’ awareness of acrylamide. As the proposed legislation creates media interest around the topic, consumer interest will grow. There is also a growing consumer interest in transparency in food production; consumers no longer see this as “somebody else’s business”. Health-conscious, highly engaged consumers will continue to control the online narrative around acrylamide levels.

Check your products Acrylamide level complianceCheck your products Acrylamide level compliance

Acrylamide reduction: a chance to build customer loyalty and future-proof products

At first glance, this appears to be a challenge. But it could in fact be a great opportunity for your business. A recent study showed that less than half of European consumers trust food manufacturers, and want manufacturers to respond better to changing expectations.

Transparency in response to consumer questions and understanding of the issues at the heart of the pending legislation could win consumer trust—ultimately translating into market share. By moving early to reduce acrylamide levels, companies would have future-proofed their products against legislative and consumer pressure and against losing access to retailers’ shelves.

Introducing Acrylaway ®: Mitigate acrylamide without sacrificing product quality and consistency

From the addition of acids to changes in piece size, many acrylamide mitigation measures and guiding documents such as Food and Drink Europe’s Acrylamide Toolbox involve changes to recipes or manufacturing processes. These can affect the food's final texture and taste.

With a unique pH and temperature range, Acrylaway ® offers producers the greatest degree of flexibility and consistent result. This award-winning ingredient works effectively at the broadest range of applications, so you can implement the acrylamide reduction measures demanded by informed, health-conscious consumers, while maintaining the product quality they expect.

Foodology by Univar Solutions’ technical and innovation teams can help you choose the best grade for your new product launch or an existing best-selling brand – get in touch today.

Get lower acrylamide levels with no change to your recipes

It’s possible to achieve this goal with the Acrylaway® family of products. Keeping you well beyond compliance with acrylamide reductions of up to 95% in the broadest range of applications, there’s no need for recipe changes.

In many cases, no process changes are needed either, keeping you ahead of changing legislation and the demands of health-conscious consumers and retailers, while allowing your final products to maintain their great taste and texture.  

Products in the Acrylaway® family are available in liquid and granulated formats and cover a broad pH and temperature range. This includes the high temperatures needed for breakfast cereals and other grain-based foods. 

Are you ready for the new acrylamide regulation?

Developed by Novozymes, Acrylamide Compliance Checker an essential tool to support your acrylamide compliance, allowing you to check your products’ acrylamide levels against current benchmarks and the anticipated new EU levels. It also helps you find solutions to help you meet these levels.