Warnings on fast food

NST: Potato chip and french fry packages may soon sport warnings that they could cause cancer.
It appears that the culprit is a chemical called "acrylamide", which is created when starchy food is cooked at high temperature.
The Health Ministry, which has been monitoring international research on the matter, is moving fast on the issue following research findings last week by the Harvard Medical School in London.
The prestigious institution revealed that under-fives who ate a portion of chips a week increased their risk of breast cancer in adulthood by 27 per cent.
Those who ate it daily doubled their chance of developing the disease.
The danger of acrylamide has been compounded by concern within the World Health Organisation and among food experts, scientists and researchers of its cancer-causing properties.
Health Ministry Public Health Department Food Quality Control division director Dr Abdul Rahim Mohamad said Malaysia had been studying the danger of acrylamide for several years.
"We did not take proactive measures to warn consumers of its danger as there was no concrete evidence to prove the claims.
"But with more researchers and scientists proving its dangers to humans, we may study the possibility of warnings on potato chip and french fry containers," he told the New Straits Times today.
Another cancer danger in potato chips and french fries comes from the fat in which it is fried.
The researchers believe that the fat also makes children vulnerable to breast cancer in later life.
California Attorney-General Bill Lockyer filed a lawsuit on Aug 28 to force top producers of potato chips and french fries to warn consumers about acrylamide.
In the complaint filed in a Los Angeles Superior Court, Lockyer sought an injunction to stop restaurant chains such as McDonald’s Corp and Wendy’s International Inc from selling french fries without some form of warning.
Also named in the action were producers of potato chips and other packaged potato products like PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay Inc and Procter & Gamble Co, makers of Pringles Chips.
In an immediate reaction, the Penang Consumer Association’s Uma Ramaswamy said the debate on the dangers of acrylamide had been going on for several years.
She said the association had written to the ministry five years ago expressing its concern on the matter.
"We want to know the cumulative effect of acrylamide on humans, especially those who snack on potato chips and french fries daily," she added.
Uma welcomed the possibility of making it mandatory for manufacturers of these snacks and fast-food outlets to place warnings on packages containing the items.