Chemicals used in plastic materials and articles in contact with food (year 1)

Friday 10 October 2003

Compliance with statutory limits on composition and migration.

Summary

This survey was carried out to test for compliance with legislation on the composition of and chemical migration from plastic materials and articles in contact with food. There are controls in British law to protect consumers from unsafe levels in food of the chemical building blocks (monomers) that are used to make plastics for contact with food.
200 samples of plastics were tested. Samples of the following were included in this survey: polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride/polyvinylidene chloride, polyethylene terephthalate and nylon-6. These were analysed for the following monomers: 1,3-butadiene, divinylbenzene, ethylvinylbenzene, vinyl chloride, vinylidene chloride, terephthalic acid, 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid, monoethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, and caprolactam.
All samples in this survey complied with the law. Although one monomer migrated – caprolactam from nine samples of nylon-6 packaging – the resulting levels in food were less than the legal maximum of 15 milligrams/kilogram (mg/kg). Caprolactam and other monomers were quantified in 38% of packaging samples (75/200), in each case at levels within the legal limits.
There is, however, a need for further work in applying Comité Européen Nationalisation (CEN) methods, intended for use with food simulants, to test samples of food for monomers. This will be taken forward with CEN.
There also needs to be research on variation of monomer levels in different samples of food-grade plastic. This will be considered in a forthcoming review of possible projects by the respective, independent working party that advises the Food Standards Agency.

Chemicals used in plastic materials and articles in contact with food (year 1)

Summary

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