VietNamNet Bridge - The Ministry of Health has asked the National Institute for Food Quarantine to take three random samples of KFC fried potatoes and three samples of crackers to test for carcinogens.

The samples will be tested for quality standards and acrylamide.

The tests must be completed expeditiously and the results must be sent to the Department for Food Safety before July 21.

The request was issued after this agency received a warning of the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) on the discovery of a carcinogen called acrylamide which was found in snacks, coffee, potato chips, burnt toast, crisps and some fast food for kids.

The EFSA also proposed to governments to establish new legal frameworks to control the food industry, in an attempt to reduce the amount of chemicals causing cancer in the products sold in supermarkets and restaurants.

Earlier, the Daily Mail quoted Dr. Diane Benford, an EFSA official who investigated acrylamide, as saying that acrylamide enters the body orally and is absorbed from the stomach system and then distributed to all the internal organs and is metabolized widely.

Glycidamide, one of the major metabolites of this process, is likely to cause mutagenic and tumor formation and it is clearly observed in the study in animals.

A study published by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) in 2013 also showed that the increase of concentrations of carcinogens was found in KFC fried potatoes, crisps, ginger biscuits and even instant cereal.

According to the Food Quality Administration of Vietnam, the tests are being conducted to "to actively detect and control this hazard."

Tri Thuc Tre