Less Asparagine

While the amino acid Asparagine, found in most starchy foods, is one of the 20 building blocks of protein and is synthesized in the body, it is not necessarily beneficial when exposed to hot oils as in deep fryers. It turns out when potatoes are deep-fried, as in french fries or made into potato chips, the asparagine in the potatoes is converted into acrylamide, a chemical that has been associated with cancer in laboratory animals. Reduce asparagine and you reduce the amount of acrylamide produced when deep frying potatoes. Now let's talk about genetic engineering. The Simplot company has developed a GMO potato that, in the words of Doug Cole, Director of Company Marketing and Communications for the J. R. Simplot Company, "reduces asparagine which, when the consumer cooks a potato at high temperature, it converts to lower acrylamide. The new potato called Innate has 70% less asparagine."