British Food Standards Agency (FSA) has published the results of its survey looking at the migration into food of selected printing ink components from printed carton-board packaging materials. The results also include work on the presence of mineral oils in some of the food packaging samples. Based on the results, the FSA's advice is that there is no need for consumers to change their eating habits.
The survey looked at 350 food products that were packaged in virgin and recycled carton-board. Of these, 84* food samples contained printing ink components. The FSA carried out an assessment of the potential risk the levels of the selected ink components may pose for consumers, and didn’t identify any concerns in relation to health.
The FSA also analysed 51 of the 350 carton-board packaging samples to look for different types of mineral oil. All had one or more mineral oils present. The FSA has also carried out a risk assessment based on these results, and didn’t identify any specific food safety concerns relating to minerals oils in the packaging.
Dr Alison Gleadle, FSA Director of Food Safety, said: ‘This survey shows that food packaging can contain one or more different types of mineral oil. However, based upon the levels we found, we did not identify specific food safety concerns. Therefore, based on these survey results, people don’t need to change their eating habits.
