In a review article published on January 26, 2022, in the peer-reviewed journal Food Chemistry Parisa Sadighara from Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran, and co-authors, summarized the styrene levels in food packaged in polystyrene (PS).
The scientists searched Medline, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar for primary studies that analyzed styrene (CAS 100-42-5) in food and were published before July 2021. They performed a quality assessment and meta-regression analysis on the eight studies that met their inclusion criteria. Sadighara et al. calculated an overall mean of 91.53 µg styrene per kg food based on four studies that reported the mean, standard deviation, and sample number. The authors further reported that most studies analyzed dairy products using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry as a method. In addition, styrene levels in food were found to be higher with higher fat content, and data suggested increasing styrene levels with storage time. Given the rise in ready-to-eat foods and that they are often packaged in PS, the scientists proposed further research to analyze styrene in these foods.
Another recently published study analyzed styrene migration from 37 food contact materials into several types of food and found that in 56% of the dairy products and desserts, styrene concentrations exceeded 10 µg/kg food (FPF reported). In 2016, the US State of California added styrene to its Proposition 65 list of carcinogens (FPF reported), and in 2018 the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) concluded that styrene is “probably carcinogenic to humans” (FPF reported).
Reference
Sadighara, P. et al (2022). “The amount and detection method of styrene in foods: A systematic review and meta-analysis.” Food Chemistry: X. DOI: 10.1016/j.fochx.2022.100238
