Can chips give you cancer? Warnings after tobacco chemical is discovered in fried food

Eating chips and other fried food have been linked to cancer after a study discovered they contain a harmful chemical usually found in tobacco smoke.

Acrylamide - or AA - forms when foods are cooked at high temperatures such as when they are fried.

Now the European Food Safety Authority has published a study confirming that the chemical is a cancer risk.

It warned: "AA forms in numerous baked or fried carbohydrate-rich foods, including French fries, potato crisps, breads, biscuits and coffee. AA is also known to be present in cigarette smoke."

It added that since acrylamide is present in a wide range of everyday foods, the risk affected all ages but that children were the most vulnerable based on their body weight.

The study showed that 51 per cent of all acrylamide exposure for children comes from chips, roast potatoes and croquettes.

Britain's Food Standards Agency already advises families to cook chips only to a light golden colour and warns bread 'should only be toasted to the lightest colour acceptable'.

The FSA has identified a list of big brand foods that carry the highest levels of the dangerous chemical.

The EFSA said acrylamide is also found in tobacco smoke, adding: "For smokers, tobacco smoking is a more prominent source of acrylamide exposure than food."

It also identified a risk to pregnant women and babies, saying: "AA is rapidly distributed into the tissues. AA is also able to cross the placenta and is transferred to a small extent into human milk."