What happens if you eat burnt food?
Considering this, is it OK to eat burnt food?
It's commonly thought that food that has been burnt could cause cancer. But while the chemical is a known potential toxin and carcinogen in its industrial form, the link between consuming it in food and developing cancer is much less clear.
One may also ask, is it safe to eat burnt toast?
Acrylamide, a toxic compound, is created when bread and potato-based foods are cooked for long periods at high temperature - giving them a brown colour. But now, the chief scientific adviser to the FSA has said there is no reason to panic at the news, and that you can still eat burnt toast.
Charring food takes the Maillard reaction to its furthest possible conclusion—the longer a food is cooked, the more pronounced and complex that caramelized flavor can become. We find the caramelization of sugar, slightly burnt sugar, very attractive but if you burn the sugar into blackened cinders, we don't like it.