Sentence Correction

Many fear the epidemic of obesity in America; the amount of food consumed per
person in America is as much as thrice that consumed in Japan.
(A) as much as thrice that consumed in Japan
(B) as much as thrice that of Japan's consumption
(C) up to three times of Japan's consumption
(D) up to three times what Japanese consumed
(E) up to triple the amount the Japanese consumed

my doubt: the correct is A but will it be ok to use "amount" with "as much as" together? i believe that "amount" and "as much as" are redundant.
for instance: amount X is twice as much as amount Y ---->is redundant & inferior; the correct version is amount X is twice amount Y
Though i picked A in this question but on analyzing further i found this redundancy. is it that we can neglect this redundancy if we have no other option to pick?

PS: this question is from Manhattan review AND NOT from Manhattan gmat