Potato chips and French fries could be safer to eat as the result of a new study at U-W Madison. The U-S-D-A has awarded a three-point-seven million dollar grant to see what happens when a carcinogen called acrylamide is reduced in potato-based foods. Scientists from Madison will join their counterparts in nine university and U-S-D-A labs to develop potatoes with less acrylamide. According to the U-W, the researchers will look for potatoes with certain levels of sugars and animo acids which produce the carcinogen when potatoes are fried in high temperatures. The labs will also try to find molecular markers to use in breeding safer varieties of potatoes.