'They'll have to prise my toast from my cold dead hands': Social media reacts to food experts' advice that burnt food and roast potatoes can cause cancer 

  • Food Standards Agency today advised that crispy foods could cause cancer
  • The news prompted defiant messages from fans of toast and roast potatoes
  • Celebrity comedians Richard Herring and Stephen Mangan joined in with jokes 

The news that crispy roast potatoes and burnt toast could cause cancer has not gone down well with people on social media.

Twitter has erupted with defiant messages from fans of both foods who say they will continue to eat their beloved crispy treats despite the latest health advice.

Others are seeing the lighter side by cracking hilarious jokes - and even celebrities are taking part.

The news that crispy roast potatoes and burnt toast could cause cancer has not gone down well with people on social media

The news that crispy roast potatoes and burnt toast could cause cancer has not gone down well with people on social media

The backlash comes after the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA) today revealed that overcooking potatoes and burning toast could increase the risk of cancer.

They advise cooks to move away from fried, baked and toasted foods and not serve anything more than a light golden yellow.

They also urge people to stop storing potatoes in the fridge, which leads to a chemical change called cold sweetening that increases acrylamide.

Acrylamide they say has been shown to cause cancer in animal tests.  

The Food Standards Agency has warned that burning or overcooking your toast could increase the risk of cancer

The Food Standards Agency has warned that burning or overcooking your toast could increase the risk of cancer

Twitter has erupted with defiant messages from fans of both foods who say they will continue to eat their beloved crispy treats despite the latest health advice

Twitter has erupted with defiant messages from fans of both foods who say they will continue to eat their beloved crispy treats despite the latest health advice

The advice prompted swathes of people to defiantly say that they would rather die than give up eating their beloved roast potatoes.

British comedians such as Stephen Mangan, Richard Herring, and Al Murray all joined in with cracking jokes on social media making light of the cancer scare.

Several said the health experts would have to prise their crispy roast potatoes or overdone toast from their 'cold dead hands' if they wanted people to act on the advice.

Others slyly said that the news was a distraction from recent political events, such as President Donald Trump's inauguration and this morning's news that Prime Minister Theresa May reportedly knew about the Trident missile test in which the weapon is said to have misfired before a House of Commons renewal vote.

The advice prompted swathes of people to defiantly say that they would rather die than give up eating their beloved roast potatoes, including famous comedians

The advice prompted swathes of people to defiantly say that they would rather die than give up eating their beloved roast potatoes, including famous comedians

The outrage is still pouring in on social media - despite the fact that the experts' advice has largely been debunked today.

The chief scientific adviser to the FSA has now said there is no reason to panic at the news, and that you can still eat burnt toast. 

Dr Guy Poppy, told the Today programme on BBC's Radio 4: 'What we are saying though is that if you want to have toast every day or on a regular basis, to reduce the amounts of exposure you’ll get, you’re better off eating toast of this colour, this light golden colour, rather than this dark brown.

'If we were dealing with something like salmonella, a single exposure can make you very ill. With chemicals in food, it’s a lifetime exposure.

'I wouldn’t say the risk is tiny but the risk is something in which we can manage. It’s important that relatively minor changes in your cooking practices, could reduce the risk even further and we think that is being proportionate and reasonable.' 

WHY YOU CAN STILL EAT BURNT TOAST AND CRISPY POTATOES

Sir David Spiegelhalter, a Cambridge University statistician, said even adults who consume the greatest amount of acrylamide are nowhere near risk.

They could have 160 times as much - from two slices of toast a day to 320 - and would still be unlikely to be plagued by the disease, he suggested. 

In a piece for Medium, he broke down figures provided by the European Food Standards Agency (EFSA).

Exposures of 170mg per each kg of body weight are believed to be the point of an increased risk of cancer.

But dietary surveys revealed exactly how much acrylamide exposure most adults succumb to on a daily basis.

It showed that, for most, consumption of the toxic compound is less than 0.6mg each day. But many have a 'high' of 1.1mg.

Sir Spiegelhalter also told the Today programme: 'My concern is that the evidence that this actually causes any harm is weak, it’s extremely weak.

'There has been 16 studies trying to show that there is an association of consumption with cancer and none have shown anything consistent at all.

'There is no direct evidence, actually that anyone’s ever got cancer because of acrylamide so I’m concerned that campaigns such as this could detract attention from really important issues to do with balanced diet and obesity.' 

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