Are manufacturers in line with the British law for the safety limits of chemicals in plastics in contact with food? Recent investigations in the UK gave 200 samples the all clear.

Set up by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) the survey set out to investigate whether any of the chemical building blocks (monomers) used to make plastic packaging migrated into the food.

Researchers initially looked for 10 different monomers in packaging. They then looked to see if any monomers had migrated into the food. Only one monomer was found, in nine samples of food, at levels ranging from 2.8 to 13 milligrams per kilogram, less than the legal maximum of 15 mg/kg.

From this point, 200 samples of plastics were then tested and they included polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride/polyvinylidene chloride, polyethylene terephthalate and nylon-6. These were analysed for the monomers 1,3-butadiene, divinylbenzene, ethylvinylbenzene, vinyl chloride, vinylidene chloride, terephthalic acid, 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid, monoethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, and caprolactam.

Despite the positive feedback, the FSA will continue investigations. "There is, however, a need for further work in applying Comité Européen Nationalisation (CEN) methods, intended for use with food simulants, to test samples of food for monomers. This will be taken forward with CEN," said the food agency this week.