Boise researchers are shocking potatoes with electricity. Can it help Idaho’s ag industry?
Boise State University researchers are giving potatoes an electric jolt that could make a popular snack healthier and more energy efficient.
A Boise State study treated potatoes with pulse electric field, a technology that uses high-voltage pulses to open up tiny pores in cells, resulting in chips with less fat, fewer suspected carcinogens and less energy consumption — a technology researchers hope can benefit Idaho’s agriculture industry.
Despite the potatoes being a $1.3 billion industry for the state in 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “once the potatoes are out of the ground,” Idaho has limited facilities and workers needed to process the potatoes into products like chips, said Owen McDougal, a professor of biochemistry at Boise State who worked on the study.
McDougal helped found the Food and Dairy Center at Boise State, which facilitated this study. He said he hopes that work being done at the center “will help fill the void.”
“There’s not a lot of research infrastructure to support the agriculture industry in the state,” McDougal told the Idaho Statesman.
How pulse electric field works on potatoes
The electric field treatment is common for french fries, McDougal said, but its popularity has yet to spread to potato chips in the United States.
Potatoes are rich in asparagine, a building block of proteins, which reacts with sugars during high frying temperatures and creates acrylamide, said Joseph Provost, a professor at the University of San Diego who studies food science. That reaction causes potato chips to be higher in acrylamide, a suspected carcinogen, compared with other foods, according to the American Cancer Society. Carcinogens are substances that can cause cancer.
But when potatoes are treated with a pulse electric field, asparagine and sugars leak out of the open pores, reducing the content of acrylamide in potato chips by up to 32%, according to the study.
“If we can reduce the acrylamide,” McDougal said, “then we can get a healthier end product for consumers.”
As an added benefit, the treatment also reduces fat by 8%, according to the study. Since water has an easier time escaping the treated chips, it blocks some oil from being absorbed, said Kevin Hill, an employee at Elea, a company specializing in pulse electric field systems. Less water also allows for a lower fry temperature and shorter fry time, which can reduce acrylamide, he added.
The treatment also conserves energy and saves money, McDougal said. The lower and shorter fry times cut energy usage and energy costs by 10%, according to the study.
“If we are going to be carbon neutral, we need new technology to do that,” McDougal said.
But do they taste the same? In a textural analysis, the researchers found that crunchiness, crispness, and firmness were similar to non-treated chips. In terms of flavor, while the study didn’t include taste tests, it was researcher approved.
”Members of the lab were making chips to bring home and have for parties,” McDougal said.
Costs to process potatoes remain an obstacle
The costs to implement such a change remain an obstacle for the process to become more widespread. The initial price tag to implement pulse electric field systems would range from $500,000 to $1 million on the industrial scale, McDougal said, and processors want to see the benefits before making that investment.
Pulse electric field can be applied to more than just potatoes. McDougal is currently working on a project to make barley, one of Idaho’s biggest crops, germinate faster, a process that would benefit the malt and beer industry.
“There is a broad applicability of the technology beyond potato processing,” McDougal said. “You can do so many things with it, and we plan to continue research on the capabilities.”
