Knowledge, attitude, and practice of food safety: a survey on processed potatoproducts manufacturer in Bangladesh

The main focus of the study was to evaluate the level of knowledge, practices, and policies of potato-based product, manufacturers in Bangladesh regarding food safety and quality issues, particularly acrylamide, a probable human carcinogenic compound formed in potato-based products during heat processing. Among twenty-one processed potato product manufacturers, only fifteen were found interested in participating in this study. A pre-developed questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents and descriptive statistical measures were used for data analysis. The results revealed that most of the manufacturers are not aware of the Maillard reaction (60%) and acrylamide formation (53.3%) during potato processing. Although the manufacturers are familiar with reducing sugar (80%) and amino acids (73.3%), they were unaware that these are acrylamide precursors that must be quantified before potato processing. Most of the manufacturers (83.3%) prefer 150-200°C temperature for frying and the remaining (16.7%) use above 200°C. However, no manufacturers performed acrylamide analysis as they didn’t have any standard policy. Only 16.7% of manufacturers adopted the mitigation strategy for acrylamide reduction. Additionally, almost 58.3% of manufacturers are not aware of the international trade barrier on the export of potato products based on the acrylamide level. There has been a crucial demand for further research on revising and updating the food safety policies and practices during the processing of potatoes to safeguard the health of the consumers by relevant regulatory bodies in Bangladesh for acrylamide to get on with the latest industrial and technological innovations along with skill developing training to remove the trade barrier on export.