Abstract

Acrylamide is a suspected carcinogenic and toxic molecule occurring in many types of processed foods as aconsequence of its formation during an intense heat treatment. Due to its widespread presence in many staple foods, many institutions responsible for food safety strongly recommend to reduce acrylamide to as low level as possible. Latestresearch activities are focused on explanation of acrylamide formation, toxicological aspects of acrylamide intake and looking for appropriate tools for its elimination. The relevance of this task is underlined with identifying of a highly exposedgroup of consumers which are young people between 14 – 20 proven by a survey of consumption in the Slovak and theCzech Republics. The exposure to acrylamide from foods in this group of consumers is close to the tolerable level – 2.6 μgper kg of body weight daily – whereas main contributors were identified to be cereal foods.