BELOIT, WIS. — As more research shows acrylamide to be a potential carcinogen, the food industry turns increasing attention to ways for reducing acrylamide in the food it offers consumers. To help in these efforts, Kerry launched Acryleast. This clean label, non-G.M.O. yeast contains the asparaginase enzyme, which has the ability to reduce acrylamide levels by up to 90% in biscuits, crackers and potato chips as well as other foods outside of bakery and snack.

To ensure Acryleast’s effectiveness and functionality, Kerry tested the ingredient in its laboratories and scaled-up plant trials in a range of biscuit and cracker applications, said Matthew May, Kerry’s bakery lead for Europe and Russia. In these trials, the company was able to achieve reductions greater than 90%.

“Importantly, these trials also demonstrated no impact on taste or texture, confirming that Acryleast is a very effective and versatile solution for acrylamide reduction that requires no or minimal changes to existing manufacturing processes,” he said.

It was also critical that the new ingredient be clean label and non-G.M.O.

“For Kerry, it was essential to launch a solution that was clean label and non-G.M.O. so that both producers and consumers could trust that acrylamide was being reduced consistently and in the right way,” said Mike Woulfe, vice-president, business development enzymes, Kerry. The company partnered with Renaissance, a life science company, for its non-G.M.O. approach to acrylamide reduction.

Acryleast has been tested heavily in the bakery space, but Kerry intends to expand the ingredients’ uses in other applications such as snacks.