Estimating dietary exposure to polycyclic aromatic compounds from food grade plastics†

Plastics are extensively involved in our everyday lives, including use as food storage containers. Greater than 95% of plastics produced are derived from petrochemicals. Numerous studies have shown that chemical additives (e.g., phthalates) can migrate out of food grade plastics into foods. Based on this we hypothesize that petrochemicals used in the manufacturer of plastics also migrate into foods. To test this hypothesis, we simulated chemical migration from petrochemical-based plastics under refrigeration and microwave conditions using the United States Food and Drug Administration testing guidelines. Specifically, we measured the amounts of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) migrating from four plastics used heavily in the food industry namely polypropylene, polyethylene, polycarbonate and polyethylene terephthalate glycol. Our results showed that several alkylated and non-alkylated PACs could be detected in the food simulant used with relatively greater amounts of the alkylated PACs compared to their non-alkylated analogs. Data from our studies were used to estimate daily intake where it was shown that the greatest risk of exposure to humans stems from migration of PACs from PE into foods with total EDIs of 1794.4 ± 163.5 and 169.4 ± 23.5 ng per person per day under refrigeration and microwave conditions, respectively. Finally, an assessment of human health risk resulting from dietary exposure to PACs migrating from the four plastics studied under the two usage scenarios, suggests that at current exposure levels, PACs pose negligible cancer risk to humans.