Collaboration Between Universities and Industry to Solve the Potato Acrylamide Problem.

Acrylamide is found in carbohydrate rich foods processed at high temperatures, such as potato chips and French fries. Acrylamide is a potential human carcinogen and intake of acrylamide during pregnancy can affect fetal development. The US potato industry, with $3.5 billion in raw product value, identified acrylamide as its number one issue facing the long-term profitability and its number one research funding priority. Therefore, the potato industry has a critical need for varieties that produce lower acrylamide in processed products, while remaining or exceeding the agronomic and consumer acceptance traits found in current varieties. The USDA-SCRI acrylamide grant is an ongoing national effort collaborated by both academia and industry that aims at adopting new potato varieties with low acrylamide forming potentials and outstanding agronomic and processing quality. On the academic side, scientist and researchers from nine universities and four USDA labs are doing active research from molecular to production level. On the industry side, the direct involvement of potato processors (JR Simplot, McCain Foods, etc) and end users (McDonald`s and Frito-Lay) is unprecedented and includes industry funding of variety evaluation, use of their facilities for commercial scale production runs and participation in critical consumer attribute testing. This engagement changes the dynamic of the variety development process and greatly increases the likelihood that research findings and new potato varieties will be utilized directly by the processing industry. Up to date, project implementation, strategic decisions and assessments of progress are done in partnership with an advisory committee made up of influential potato researchers and scientists, potato growers, head of state and regional potato organizations, and representatives of food-processing companies and end-user organizations.