The cover story from the latest Chemical & Engineering News details the challenges faced by food and drug makers to keep chemical leaching from product packaging and processing to a minimum. According to the article, even the most inert substances used in food packaging, such as glass, can leach chemicals because they are typically capped with metal, rubber or plastic. For example, carbon black and nitrosamines, both carcinogens, have been used to process rubber and have been found leaching from asthma inhalers and baby-bottle nipples. Bisphenol A and the chemicals in the inks used on labels are also discussed; apparently, even plastic barriers cannot stop ink migration. The article notes, “Speak with anyone who produces, studies, or regulates packaging, and you will hear this point repeated: It is not a question of whether packaging components will leach into a product, it’s a question of how much.” Complicating the issue are…
Tag Archives packaging
A California state judge has reportedly issued a tentative ruling on the styrene industry’s request to enjoin Proposition 65 (Prop. 65) regulators from listing styrene as a chemical known to the state to cause cancer. Styrene Info. & Research Ctr. v. OEHHA, No. 09-53089 (Cal. Super. Ct., Sacramento Cty., decided August 12, 2009). Further details about the litigation appear in issue 313 of this Update. According to a news source, Superior Court Judge Shelleyanne Chang found no “known” evidence that styrene is a carcinogen and that the designation would likely have a devastating and stigmatizing effect on the product’s use. Widely used in food packaging, styrene plastics are apparently crucial to the transportation and sale of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, state industries worth $1.6 billion. California EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has proposed listing styrene as a Prop. 65 substance, which would require public warnings, based on “possibly…
An industry trade group has sued Cal/EPA’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) to stop it from listing styrene as a carcinogen under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Prop. 65). Styrene Info. & Research Ctr. v. OEHHA, No. 09-53089 (Cal. Super. Ct., Sacramento Cty., filed 07/15/09). According to the complaint, styrene does not cause human cancer, and its proposed Prop. 65 listing would cause the $28-billion-a-year industry “irreparable harm” by stigmatizing the chemical. It also alleges that OEHHA failed to comply with administrative procedures in interpreting and implementing Prop. 65, created secret interpretative standards and refused to consider new scientific evidence indicating that styrene is not “known to cause cancer.” Styrene is used in milk and egg cartons, berry baskets, produce shipping crates, foodservice containers, plastic pipes, automobile parts, medical equipment, countertops, and many other products. To support its proposed styrene listing, OEHHA cited a 2002 International…
Green Century Capital Management, an investment advisory firm focused on environmentally responsible companies, and As You Sow, an advocacy group that promotes corporate accountability, have issued a new report urging food and beverage manufacturers to stop using the packaging chemical bisphenol A (BPA) or risk possible repercussions in the marketplace. The report claims that 14 of the largest public packaged food and beverage companies still use BPA despite studies allegedly linking it to heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and metabolic disorders. The report states: “Companies that move toward BPA-free packaging are being recognized as putting their customers’ health first, while other companies refusing to phase out BPA may find themselves punished in the marketplace.” In published reports, a Green Century director expressed concern about the lack of urgency the packaged food industry appears to have in addressing BPA. “Alternatives to BPA exist for many products. We believe companies should implement all feasible…
KFC U.S. Properties, Inc. has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the company that allegedly supplied defective food containers for the sale of Popcorn Chicken® to KFC customers; the containers apparently burst into flames when the product is reheated in a microwave. KFC U.S. Props., Inc. v. Paris Packaging, Inc., No. 09-00249 (W.D. Ky., filed April 3, 2009). According to the complaint, in February 2009, the defendant began using an ink with high carbon content for the graphics printed on the containers. After receiving customer complaints, KFC tested the containers and established that they “spontaneously combusted in a microwave within 13-20 seconds of reheating.” While no personal injuries have been alleged, the company is seeking damages in excess of $75,000 for breach of contract.
German authorities have reportedly asked the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to provide a risk assessment for 4-methylbenzophenone, a food packaging chemical similar to benzophenone and hydroxybenzophenone that both have a tolerable daily intake (TDI) of 0.01 mg/kilogram of body weight. Officials alerted EFSA through the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed after a customer identified the common photo-inhibitor in a chocolate crunch muesli product at levels approaching 798 µm/kilogram parts per billion (ppb). The European Commission has also requested a reevaluation of the TDI set for the two related chemicals. EFSA anticipates that it will publish its assessment of 4-methylbenzophenone by March 3, 2009, with an opinion on other food contact materials, enzymes, flavorings and processing aids expected by the end of May. See FoodProductionDaily.com, February 24, 2009.
U.S. and Danish researchers have published an article that discusses a study conducted on a subset of the Danish National Birth Cohort of some 100,000 children and their mothers to explore whether bloodstream levels of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA), chemicals used in food packaging, may affect fertility. Chunyuan Fei, et al., “Maternal Levels of Perfluorinated Chemicals and Subfecundity,” Human Reproduction, January 28, 2009. Noting that these chemicals are also used in many other consumer products, “are persistent in the environment and have been detected in wildlife and humans around the world,” the researchers found that higher maternal PFOA and PFOS levels were associated with a longer time to pregnancy. They conclude that exposure to these chemicals “may explain some of the fertility differences seen among different populations in developed countries.”
