Could warnings of acrylamide, a carcinogenic substance, be put on the products of potato chips and french fries?

The question and even lawsuits have been raised in the United States today. But the answer still seems to elude consumers in China and other places.

California Attorney-General Bill Lockyer sued nine snack and fast-food giants last Friday, saying the law requires them to inform the public that their potato chips and french fries contain a toxic chemical, reported the Los Angeles Times on its website.

In a suit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Lockyer sought a court order forcing companies to place warnings on their cooked potato products because they contain higher levels of a suspected carcinogen.

The defendants include Frito-Lay Inc, KFC Corp, McDonald's Corp, Wendy's International and Procter & Gamble Distributing Co..

Acrylamide known to cause cancer in the reproductive organs of laboratory animals exposed to large doses has been on the list of carcinogens since 1990 in the United States.

In China, where KFC and McDonald's have set up thousands of outlets, the news has been a hot topic .

McDonald's (China) released a statement saying that the acrylamide concern has existed since human beings began to cook food. The carcinogenic substance is also supposedly found in many kinds of daily foods, including bread, coffee, cookies and other snacks.

McDonald's insisted that its foods meet the safety standards set by Chinese food and health authorities.

In fact, there is no scientific evidence to date that shows acrylamide in food can cause cancer and no conclusions have yet been reached on how much fried foods eaten by humans can cause illness, experts said.

However, acrylamide was not known to be present in food until 2002, when scientists in Sweden discovered that the substance appeared in starchy foods when cooked at high temperatures.

"I am not telling people to stop eating potato chips and french fries," Lockyer said in a statement.

But he pointed out that Proposition 65, a ballot initiative passed by voters in 1986, requires businesses of all types to provide the public with "clear and reasonable" warnings before exposing them to potentially dangerous substances.

But in China, no mandatory regulations require fries and chips to have a warning notice on their packaging, Qiu Baochang, a Beijing-based lawyer, was quoted by Beijing News as saying.

Qiu said that transnational companies, KFC and McDonald's in particular, should display a clear warning on their products in China if they are officially required to do so in the United States.

Before the final court judgment, Chinese health and food authorities can only advise consumers that eating too much fried food is harmful to their health, officials said.

But it is unclear if warnings will deter junk food lovers from their favourite snack.

"I don't think some clear warnings will make a difference for me," said Cheng Xi, a woman of a property company in Shanghai. "Many people, including me, know that fries and chips are junk food even if there are no warnings on them."

She said she will continue to eat at KFC or McDonald's, regardless of a warning.

"Sometimes, it is very hard to change the habit even it is bad. For example, there are health warnings on the packets of cigarettes, but I still smoke," a smoker in Beijing said.

In China, especially in its northern areas, people are used to eating youtiao, a deep-fried twisted dough stick, for breakfast.

(China Daily  September 1, 2005)