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Estimation of exposure to food packaging materials. 1: Development of a food-packaging database
E Duffy1, A P Hearty, M B Gilsenan
1Nutrition Unit, Division of Clinical and Molecular Medicine, Trinity College School of Medicine, St. James's Hospital, Dublin 8, Ireland. edel.duffy@tcd.ie
Insights
A comprehensive food packaging database was created using data from Irish children. Plastics, particularly polyethylene and polypropylene, were the most common food contact materials found.
Area of Science:
- Food Science and Technology
- Environmental Health
- Public Health Nutrition
Background:
- Assessing human exposure to food packaging materials requires detailed data on packaging composition.
- Existing data on food packaging in Europe is limited, hindering accurate exposure assessments.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a qualitative food packaging database for Ireland.
- To collect and analyze packaging information from a national survey of children's food consumption.
Main Methods:
- Collected packaging from 594 children (aged 5-12) during a 2003-04 national food survey in Ireland.
- Entered data into a Microsoft Access database, recording brand, packaging type, weight, contact layer, and EU food type.
- Analyzed 3672 packaging entries from 3441 food items.
Main Results:
- Plastics comprised the most common packaging contact layer (78.3%).
- Polyethylene (n=941) and polypropylene (n=809) were the most frequently used contact materials.
- Multimaterial multilayers with a plastic contact layer represented 12.5% of entries.
Conclusions:
- The Irish Food Packaging Database provides unique, high-quality data on food packaging materials.
- This database can inform the development of packaging use factors for refined exposure assessments in the EU.
- The findings highlight the prevalence of plastic packaging in children's diets.
Abstract:
A food-packaging database was developed to provide qualitative information on the types of packaging materials used for foods. Packaging information was collected from a sample of 594 children aged 5-12 years as part of a national children's food survey carried out in Ireland during 2003-04. All the food packaging collected during the survey was forwarded to the coordinating centre for further analysis and entry into the Irish Food Packaging Database. The database was created in Microsoft Access and stored information on: the brand of the food, the packaging type, the unit weight, the contact layer, the European Union food type (i.e. aqueous, acidic, alcoholic or fatty) and other relevant parameters. Of the 5551 different brand foods consumed by children in the food survey, packaging information was collected on 3441 (62%). As some brand foods had different unit weights and packaging formats, there was duplication of some brand foods in the database to account for this fact. Therefore, there were 3672 packaging entries in the database. Of these, plastics were the most common packaging contact layer (n = 2874, 78.3%). Multimaterial multilayers with a plastic contact layer accounted for 459 (12.5%) entries. Polyethylene was the most frequently used contact layer (n = 941), with polypropylene a close second (n = 809). This database is unique in Europe for the quality and amount of food packaging information it contains and could be used to develop packaging use factors for a more refined exposure assessment to food packaging materials in the European Union.
