Paper and Board Packaging: Not Likely to be a Source of Acrylamide in Food (Number 27/02)

Thursday 25 July 2002

Food Survey Information Sheet

Summary

The Food Standards Agency carried out this survey to test whether residual acrylamide is present in samples of paper and board that may be in contact with food or drink, and if so whether there is any detectable migration of this substance into food or drink. This is the latest in a series of surveys on chemicals that might contaminate paper or board and migrate from there into food.
Acrylamide contamination of paper and board might arise from the environment, in making this type of packaging, and, in the light of recent evidence, from food. The UK independent Committee on Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment advises that exposure to genotoxic carcinogens such as acrylamide should be as low as reasonably practicable.
The main conclusion of this survey is that it is very unlikely that paper and board packaging is a source of acrylamide in food. Acrylamide was detected in a small minority of paper and board samples (12 out of 140). This substance was found in four samples of packaging at unquantifiably low levels (less than 0.03 parts per million [ppm]), in seven samples at 0.09 to 0.2 ppm and in one sample at 1.4 ppm.
Even if all of this acrylamide were to migrate from the packaging into food or drink - an extremely unlikely event - this would have resulted only in contamination at very low levels. Acrylamide levels would have been too low to be measurable in most cases (with a limit of quantification in food of 0.006 ppm).
Food as a possible source of acrylamide in packaging was also considered in this survey. Results showing that acrylamide can be found in some cooked foods were reported whilst the survey was being carried out. There was probably migration of acrylamide from food into packaging. In an experiment in which packaging was separated into those parts that had been in contact with food and those that had not, acrylamide was found only where the packaging had been in contact with food. The Food Standards Agency is continuing to work with stakeholders and contributing to European and other international effort to develop an understanding of acrylamide in food. The Agency has welcomed the World Health Organisation's recent initiative to create a network of international research bodies.
Other possible sources of acrylamide in paper or board packaging - during its manufacture or from the environment - appeared to cause little contamination of paper or board with acrylamide. This substance was detected in only three out of 25 packaging samples that had not been in contact with food or drink, at less than 0.03 ppm in two samples and at 0.16 ppm in a third sample.
The Food Standards Agency followed up the finding of 0.16 ppm of acrylamide from non-food sources in one sample that exceeded a theoretical maximum level of 0.015 ppm acrylamide in paper. The Agency worked quickly with the Paper Federation of Great Britain and the manufacturer of the product, to resolve the problem. The manufacturer has now shown that acrylamide levels in their current product are not detectable (i.e. less than 0.01 ppm).

Paper and Board Packaging: Not Likely to be a Source of Acrylamide in Food (Number 27/02)

Summary

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