On September 19, 2019, the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) published a statement concerning the use of kitchen utensils made from polyamide (PA) oligomers. The statement advocates for minimal contact of such utensils with hot foods (above 70 degrees Celsius), and it reports on new toxicological information it received from manufacturers. Using this new data, the agency applied a group approach to determine that oligomers from polyamide types PA6 and PA66 are not considered as genotoxic. However, at high doses adverse health effects are possible in the liver and thyroid gland. It also established a group migration limit for these compounds of 5 mg/kg food. The agency urges manufacturers to be cautious and minimize the migration of oligomers during the production process of the utensils.
In May 2018, the BfR published an earlier statement that used available information and in silico methods to determine that the substances are not suspected to be genotoxic or carcinogenic (FPF reported). It had also used a threshold of toxicological concern (TTC) approach to assign the oligomers to Cramer Class III.
Read More
BfR (September 17, 2019). “Polyamid-Küchenutensilien: Kontakt mit heißen Lebensmitteln möglichst kurz halten.” (pdf) (in German)
