The Acrylamide, the molecular formula is CH2=CH-CONH2, is a kind of white crystal substance, its molecular weight is 70.08. It has been widely used as the precursor material for the production of the chemical product polyacrylamide since 1950. The polyacrylamide is widely used for the purification treatment of the water, for the production of the paper pulp and for the inner coating processing of the pipelines etc. In the European Union, the annual production output of the acrylamide is about 8 million to 10 million.

In April of 2002, the researchers from the Swedish National Food Administration (NFA) and the Stockholm University firstly reported that the acrylamide is detected to be existed in some fried and grilled starchy foods, such as the fried French fries and the fried potato chips, and the existing content exceeds the maximum allowed limit of 500 times to the drinking water standard. After that report, the other countries like the Norway, the UK, the Switzerland and the United States also reported the similar researching results.

Because the acrylamidehas the potential neurotoxicity, the genotoxicity and the carcinogenicity, the pollution caused by the acrylamide in the food attract great concerns of the international community and the governments. Therefore, in June 25, 2002, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) emergently held an expert consulting meeting together on the acrylamide pollution in the food, the safety of the acrylamide in the food is discussed. In February of 2..5, The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAQ) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Joint Expert Committee on Food Additive (JECFA) did a system risk assessment on the acrylamide in the foods on the No. 64 meeting, based on the new data in the recent two years.