The scientific paper “Recycled paper-paperboard for food contact materials: contaminants suspected and migration into foods and food simulant” by Suciu and colleagues published in the peer-reviewed journal Food Chemistry on July 2, 2013, presents a new method for contaminant measurement in paperboard and migration assessment into food stuff. The method was applied to test for the presence of bisphenol A (BPA), bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), nonylphenol monoethoxylate (NMP) and nonylphenol di-ethoxilate (NDP) in 17 commercial samples of paper and paperboard packaging of dry foods. The researchers found high levels of contaminants in recycled paperboard by testing the presence and migration into dry food and the food simulant Tenax®. BPA was found in all studied samples. This new study highlights that recycled paper and cardboard is a relevant source of some endocrine disrupting chemicals. In Europe, currently no specific regulation for recycled paperboard used as food contact material exists.
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FPF report “Contaminants migrate from recycled paper and paperboard”
