Acrylamide: the same food, cooked differently

The same potato, baked, carries at least four times the acrylamide of the boiled one. Dark toast carries about 3.7 times the same brand's untoasted slice, in Health Canada's sample. Restaurant fries are the one food here where a single serving can add more than an average adult's whole day.

Checked against its sources, in English and French, on 2026-10-17, with data v0.2. The text is as audited; any figure that comes from the live database is recomputed when the page loads and must still match it.

Audited with data v0.2 and method v0.2. The site is now on data v0.6, method v0.4.

Still holds: Its figures are surveys and an agency’s averages, and the card already rates acrylamide by the share a serving adds, not by grams to a limit. Figures bound to the live data are recomputed when the page loads and must still match, or this page would not show.

What has moved: Nothing on this card. On 20 October other pages dropped limit labels for contaminants with no safe level; this card never used them.

Every number to its source

Acrylamide forms when starchy food is cooked hot and dry, above about 120 °C. Boil it and there's little; brown it and there's more.

Food (one serving)	Acrylamide per serving	Adds to an average adult's daily intake
Potato, boiled (110 g)	at most 1.1 µg	at most 2–4%
Potato, baked with skin (110 g)	5.1 µg	8–18%
Whole-wheat bread, untoasted (75 g) ◆	3.3 µg	5–12%
The same bread, dark toast (75 g) ◆	12.2 µg	19–43%

Not yet reviewed by us (Health Canada measurements, not ranked):

Food (one serving)	Acrylamide per serving	Adds to an average adult's daily intake
French fries, oven-baked at home from frozen (70 g)	12.9 µg	20–46%
French fries, restaurant (70 g)	29.3 µg	47–105% ⚑
Potato chips (50 g)	25.2 µg	40–90%
Brewed coffee	at or near the detection limit	too low to rate

Acrylamide forms in starchy foods cooked hot and dry (frying, baking, roasting, toasting). EFSA's margins of exposure point to a cancer concern based on animal studies; human studies haven't shown it causes cancer. No safe threshold is set, so it is rated by dose, as the share a serving adds to what an average adult already eats: EFSA's adult average is 0.4 to 0.9 µg per kg of body weight a day, 28 to 63 µg for a 70 kg adult.
Why there's no "grams to the limit" here: our mercury and cadmium cards say how many grams reach a limit. Acrylamide has no such limit: EFSA rates it by margin of exposure instead of setting a tolerable intake, because its route to cancer in animals runs through DNA damage. There is no safe amount to count up to. All we can honestly say is how much a serving adds.
⚑ "May exceed": against the lower end of that average, one serving of restaurant fries more than doubles an adult's daily intake; against the higher end, it doesn't. Under our rule, a food whose range crosses that line is flagged, not banned.
Against Health Canada's lower Canadian average (0.16 to 0.29 µg per kg a day), every share above is about 2.5 to 3 times larger.
The boiled potato was below the 10 µg/kg detection limit in both samples, so its figure is a ceiling and "at least four times" is a floor.
◆ Toast: one brand (Weston whole wheat), 1–2 samples per shade, one belt toaster, 2009–2010. White bread from the same brand went from 18 to 83 µg/kg. Treat the multiple, not the decimals, as the finding.
Fries and chips: Health Canada's own survey averages, bought in Ottawa: restaurant fries from 3 chains, 2009 and 2014 (27 samples; the average fell from 480 to 358 µg/kg between the two years); frozen fries baked to the label, 2009–2020; potato chips, 2009–2016 (85 samples, 57 to 4,660 µg/kg). Coffee was measured as brewed (2009–2010).
Potatoes: US FDA Total Diet Study, 2003–2006. Grade A for the potato rows; the bread row's untoasted figure is Health Canada's same-brand sample.

Foodtopsy · audit dated 2026-10-17, on dataset v0.2 and method v0.2 · sources and corrections: the receipt below · corrections · Information, not medical advice.

Where each number comes from

Where every figure on the card comes from.

How a serving is rated (no safe threshold): added share = acrylamide per serving ÷ EFSA's mean adult daily intake. EFSA CONTAM Panel 2015, EFSA Journal 13(6):4104, doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2015.4104 (abstract and Summary read at the EFSA Journal reader 2026-10-17): "Chronic dietary exposure of adolescents, adults, elderly and very elderly was estimated to be on average between 0.4 and 0.9 µg/kg b.w. per day" → 28–63 µg a day at 70 kg. Rating: "may exceed" when the range of added shares crosses 100% (one daily serving at least doubles the average); "no cap" below. The same abstract: AA "is formed when certain foods are prepared at temperatures above 120 °C and low moisture"; "although the epidemiological associations have not demonstrated AA to be a human carcinogen, the margins of exposure (MOEs) indicate a concern for neoplastic effects based on animal evidence"; BMDL10 0.17 mg/kg b.w. per day (tumours, mice).

Servings: Health Canada, Table of Reference Amounts for Food: P.3 potatoes 110 g; A.1 bread 75 g (2 slices; toast has no line of its own); P.1 French fries 70 g prepared; S.1 chips 50 g; B.3 coffee 250 mL (a volume: no per-cup figure is computed, because the source gives no density).

Potato, boiled, without skin (110 g)

Concentration · n · years · source: below 10 µg/kg in both composites (LOQ 10) · 2 · fiscal year 2003 · FDA, Survey Data on Acrylamide in Food: Total Diet Study Results, food 136
Per serving: ≤ 1.1 µg (upper bound)
Added to EFSA's adult average (28–63 µg/day): ≤ 1.7–3.9%
Canadian average (11–20 µg/day): ≤ 5–10%
Rating: no cap

Potato, baked with skin (110 g)

Concentration · n · years · source: 46.4 µg/kg mean · 13 composites · fiscal years 2003–2006 · FDA Total Diet Study, food 137 (range 17–102)
Per serving: 5.1 µg
Added to EFSA's adult average (28–63 µg/day): 8.1–18.2%
Canadian average (11–20 µg/day): 25–46%
Rating: no cap

Whole-wheat bread, untoasted (75 g)

Concentration · n · years · source: 44 µg/kg · 2 · 2009–2010 · Health Canada, Revised Exposure Assessment of Acrylamide in Food (2012), Appendix 1, Weston whole wheat bread (39–48)
Per serving: 3.3 µg
Added to EFSA's adult average (28–63 µg/day): 5.2–11.8%
Canadian average (11–20 µg/day): 16–30%
Rating: no cap

Same, light / medium / dark toast (75 g)

Concentration · n · years · source: 79 (76–82) / 112 (101–122) / 162 (161–162) µg/kg · 2 each · same source
Per serving: 5.9 / 8.4 / 12.2 µg
Added to EFSA's adult average (28–63 µg/day): 9.4–21.2% / 13.3–30.0% / 19.3–43.4%
Canadian average (11–20 µg/day): 29–54% / 42–76% / 60–111%
Rating: no cap

French fries, home oven-baked from frozen (70 g)

Concentration · n · years · source: 183.6 µg/kg ± 173.8 (SD), median 106.0, range 17.3–626.6 · frozen French fry products baked to the label (218 or 232 °C) · 2009, 2010, 2020 · Hossain et al. 2024, Table 3 and text
Per serving: 12.9 µg
Added to EFSA's adult average (28–63 µg/day): 20.4–45.9%
Canadian average (11–20 µg/day): 64–117%
Rating: no cap (EFSA)

French fries, restaurant (70 g)

Concentration · n · years · source: 419.0 µg/kg ± 221.6 (SD) · 27 samples, 3 national chains, 2009 and 2014 (2009 mean 480, 2014 mean 358; range 255–1,120 in 2009, 67–842 in 2014) · Hossain et al. 2024, Food Addit Contam A, doi:10.1080/19440049.2024.2379388, text and Table 2
Per serving: 29.3 µg
Added to EFSA's adult average (28–63 µg/day): 46.6–104.8%
Canadian average (11–20 µg/day): 145–267%
Rating: may exceed

Potato chips (50 g)

Concentration · n · years · source: 504.3 µg/kg ± 718.2 (SD) · 85 samples, 7 brands · 2009–2016 (range 57–4,660; 2002–2008 surveys 1,096.9, n 129) · Hossain et al. 2024, text and Table 1
Per serving: 25.2 µg
Added to EFSA's adult average (28–63 µg/day): 40.0–90.1%
Canadian average (11–20 µg/day): 125–229%
Rating: no cap (EFSA)

Brewed coffee

Concentration · n · years · source: restaurant brand means below 10 to 12 µg/kg, single cups up to 15 (McDonald's, Second Cup, Starbucks, Tim Hortons; 4–6 cups each); home ground coffee below 10 · 2009–2010 · same
Per serving: not computed
Added to EFSA's adult average (28–63 µg/day): —
Canadian average (11–20 µg/day): —
Rating: not rated

Arithmetic: per serving = concentration × serving; added share = per serving ÷ (0.9 × 70) to per serving ÷ (0.4 × 70). Baked ÷ boiled ≥ 46.4 ÷ 10 = 4.6 (a floor). Dark ÷ untoasted = 162 ÷ 44 = 3.7. The fries and chips figures are Health Canada's own pooled means from Hossain et al. 2024 (full text read 2026-10-17): convenience samples from Ottawa retail and restaurants, LOD about 3 ng/g, LOQ 10 ng/g (0.3 and 1.0 in 2020), isotope dilution LC-MS/MS. They replace our earlier n-weighted averages of the 2012 Appendix 1 brand rows (restaurant fries 479.6, frozen fries 209.8, chips 502.6), which they confirm for 2009 and update for the later surveys.

Health Canada's own adult average (same 2012 page): "Mean acrylamide intakes range… from 0.157 to 0.288 µg/kg bw per day for adults (19 to 71+ years)". Shown beside EFSA's; the rating uses EFSA's, the same agency as the reference point.

Health Canada's caveats on its table: foods as consumed, prepared per the manufacturers' instructions where possible; "Toasted bread was prepared with a cafeteria belt toaster. Light, medium, and dark toasting levels were determined empirically"; the table is "a snapshot of a small proportion of the products" and brand differences "should not be used as indices of healthy product choices." Detection limit 10 µg/kg.

Also in the dataset, not on the face: dry-roasted almonds 10.7 µg per 30 g (+17–38%; measured on almond butter, a related product, CFIA 2013–2015, grade B); boiled sweet potato 2.97 µg (an infant purée as stand-in, grade B); cooked oats ≤ 2.5 µg (non-detect, upper bound); corn tortilla 0.55 µg (one product). Untoasted bread, CFIA 2013–2015 (as sold, all breads, n 129, 17 non-detects stored as 0): 33.4 µg/kg, 2.5 µg per 75 g, the dataset's current bread row.

Not used: CFIA's "Chips - Potato" (710 µg/kg, n 22): the CFIA report describes those samples as potato-based vegetable-flavoured chips and straws, not plain chips. CFIA's coffee rows are beans, powder or bottled drinks, not a brewed cup.