A new British study has found that soaking potatoes prior to frying them reduces the formation of the suspected carcinogen acrylamide.

Previous research has indicated that acrylamide, which is present in many foods, may harm health and cause cancer in animals. It is created when foods rich in starch are cooked at a high temperature (i.e., when they are fried, baked, grilled or roasted).

For the study, researchers tried three different methods of preparing raw French fries prior to cooking them. One batch was washed, another was soaked in water for half an hour and the third was soaked for two hours. These processes had the effect of reducing levels of acrylamide by 23 per cent, 38 per cent and 48 per cent respectively, provided the fries were cooked to a light colour.

Research team leader Rachel Burch, of Leatherhead Food International, said, ‘There has been much research done by the food industry looking at reducing acrylamide in products but less so on foods cooked at home, and we wanted to explore ways of reducing the level of acrylamide in home cooking’.