Acrylamide in packaging survey : Your Questions Answered

The survey sought to find out whether acrylamide, a chemical that is thought to cause cancer, is present in samples of paper and board that may come into contact with food or drink and, if so, whether acrylamide migrates into the food or drink.

This work is part of a series of surveys on chemical migration from paper and board. The results of these surveys are being used to develop European Union controls on chemical migration from paper and board that may come into contact with food.

On the basis of animal data and understanding of its biological effects, acrylamide is considered to be a probable human carcinogen. It has caused nerve damage in people who have been exposed to it at work. In studies on male animals, acrylamide was shown to impair fertility.

The FSA believes that exposure to DNA damaging carcinogens such as acrylamide should be as low as reasonably practicable.

A wide variety of different samples was obtained for this survey:

• tea bags, 18 samples
• coffee filters, bags, cartridges, 11 samples
• kitchen towels, 12 samples
• greaseproof paper, 3 samples
• baking/cake cases, 3 samples
• frozen foods, 37 samples
• foods for microwave cooking, 16 samples
• food stored at room temperature, 24 samples
• pads for use in contact with foods (eg meat or shellfish), 16 samples

Samples were bought from a range of shops. There is no significance to be attached to any particular brands or any particular shops; samples were selected randomly. More details on the sampling and testing can be found in the full Food Survey Information Sheet 27/02 on the FSA website.

It is very unlikely that this type of packaging is a source of acrylamide in food. This is despite the fact that there are several ways in which acrylamide might contaminate paper and board. Only one sample of packaging that hadn't been in contact with food showed levels of acrylamide at 0.16 parts per million. The manufacturer has taken action so that acrylamide should no longer be detectable in their product.

The Agency followed up the finding of 0.16 ppm of acrylamide by working quickly with the Paper Federation of Great Britain and the manufacturer of the product to resolve the problem. The manufacturer has now shown that acrylamide levels in their current product are not detectable (ie less than 0.01 ppm).

The Agency is also continuing to work with stakeholders and contributing to European and other international effort to develop an understanding of acrylamide in food. The Agency has welcomed the World Health Organization's recent initiative to create a network of international research bodies.

There are European Union rules on acrylamide in plastics that are intended to come into contact with food or drink. These say that acrylamide should not migrate from plastics into food or drink at a detectable level because of acrylamide's toxicity in laboratory animals. There are no EU rules for other types of food packaging, such as paper and board, but in Great Britain chemical migration from paper and board is covered by the Materials and Articles in Contact with Food Regulations 1987 and of the Food Safety Act 1990. Similar controls apply in Northern Ireland.