Oestrogenicity of paper and cardboard extracts used as food containers

Abstract

Bisphenol-A (BPA), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), and di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), which are common chemical residues in food-packaging materials, were investigated in paper and cardboard containers used for take-away food. The oestrogenicity of aqueous extracts was tested in E-Screen bioassay and analysis carried out by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Oestrogenicity was demonstrated in 90% of extracts (geometric mean [GM] = 11.97 pM oestradiol equivalents g(-1)). DEHP, DBP, and BPA (GM = 341.74, 37.59, and 2.38 ng g(-1) of material) were present in 77.50, 67.50, and 47.50% of samples, respectively. In bivariate analyses, no significant association was found between the levels of these chemicals and oestrogenicity in cardboard/paper extracts. A close-to-significant association was found between oestrogenicity and DBP (beta = 1.25; p = 0.06) in paper extracts, which reached statistical significance in multivariate analysis (beta = 1.61; p = 0.03). Paper and cardboard used in food packaging may contribute to the inadvertent exposure of consumers to endocrine-disrupting chemicals.

Fractionation of extracts from paper and board food contact materials forin vitroscreening of toxicity

“…Therefore, some interdisciplinary studies have tried to screen paper and board FCMs by using both chemical analysis and in vitro tests (Vinggaard et al 2000;Binderup et al 2002;Lopez-Espinosa et al 2007;Bradley et al 2008;Koster et al 2014). This process is used as a fast screening, excluding irrelevant samples and enabling further investigations on only toxicologically relevant samples.…”

Assessment of PCDD/F, PCB, OCP and BPA dietary exposure of non-breast-fed European infants

“…2005;Weijs et al 2006;Hsu et al 2007;Lora´n et al 2007;Mezcua et al 2007). Additionally, it has been shown that exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) occurs through the consumption of beverages or foods that have been in contact with polycarbonate plastic containers or epoxy resins in food packaging (Maragou et al 2006;Lopez-Espinosa et al 2007;Kubwabo et al 2009). BPA is readily chlorinated by reaction with residual chlorine molecules, e.g.…”

Concentration of bisphenol A in thermal paper

“…In a 2007 study, significant levels of BPA were found in recycled materials. In fact, the presence of BPA can be used to indicate the percent of recycled vs. virgin material used in a product (34).…”