Chemicals in food study "reassuring"

A survey on packaging chemicals in food should provide reassurance for consumers, according to Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ).

FSANZ Chief Executive Steve McCutcheon said the second phase of the Australian Total Diet Study had looked at chemicals that might migrate from packaging into food and found no detections at all for half of the 30 chemicals.

“We detected very low residues of some chemicals in a small number of samples. After undertaking a very conservative safety assessment on these very low levels, FSANZ has concluded there are no safety concerns.

“The screening study identified that further work was required for two of the chemicals tested for (phthalates) and FSANZ will be sampling a wider range of foods for these chemicals so a full dietary exposure assessment can be undertaken.”

McCutcheon said the ATDS results will inform an ongoing review of current food packaging regulations.

A summary of the analysis is available from the FSANZ website.