Hot chips may cause cancer

Fried or roasted potatoes, potato crisps, coffee and cereal-based products, including biscuits and toasted bread can cause cancer, the World Health Organisation has warned.

Fried or roasted potatoes, potato crisps, coffee and cereal-based products, including biscuits and toasted bread can cause cancer, the World Health Organisation has warned.

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Experts have said that a chemical created when starchy foods are cooked at high temperatures has been proven to cause the disease.

Following laboratory tests in animals this year, a joint WHO and United Nations expert committee on food additives agreed there was evidence that the chemical acrylamide caused cancer.

"Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has assessed the new data and agrees with the conclusions," the Courier Mail quoted a FSANZ spokeswoman as saying.

"The authority has acknowledged there is a need for ongoing research into health impacts of acrylamide in food.

"The FSANZ has been working with industry to reduce the levels of acrylamide in food," she added.

Acrylamide was discovered in foods by Swedish scientists in 2002.