Acrylamide Mitigation in French Fries: The Effects of the Surface-to-Volume Ratio of Potato Strips and Timing of In-season Nitrogen Applications

Acrylamide formed in French fries during high-temperature cooking may pose a risk to human health. Here, we found that increasing the cross section size from 0.8 to 1 cm lowered the acrylamide content in French fries from Russet Burbank, Ranger Russet, and Shepody by 63, 55, and 59%, respectively. A further increase in strip thickness from 1 to 1.2 cm decreased the acrylamide content by 64% in Shepody but not in the other cultivars. In all but one instance, the acrylamide contents correlated more strongly with reducing sugars. We also evaluated the impact of different N fertilization strategies on the accumulation of free asparagine and reducing sugars in fresh tubers and acrylamide formation in French fries from the cultivar Russet Burbank, grown over two seasons in southern Alberta, Canada. Both acrylamide formation and its precursors were significantly more influenced by heat stress and tuber chemical maturity than by different fertilization strategies.