Migration of Phthalate Esters Caused by Packing Hot Soup with Plastic Bag and its Health Risk

Objectives To evaluate the migration of phthalate esters (PAEs) into food caused by packing hot soup food with plastic food bag and its health risk.

Methods Information of packing hot food with plastic bag were collected by a survey on the internet, and a total of 61 residents in the middle southen China participated in the survey. Plastic bags were collected from six districts of Nanning city. After packing hot soup food (homemade soup) for 60 minutes, the migration of three types of PAEs in the food was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A health risk assessment model recommended by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) was used to evaluate the non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks for residents caused by migrated PAEs.

Results Fifty-six of 61 residents in the survey reported that they have the habit of packing hot soup with plastic bags, 55 of 56 subjects (98.21%) packed hot soup with plastic bag for less than 60 minutes. The average concentration of diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), and Bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) migrated from the plastic bag were 4.418×10^-4, 2.256×10^-4 and 1.975×10^-4 mg/kg, respectively. The total non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk of the migrated PAEs caused by packing hot soup with plastic bags were 1.395×10^-5 and 3.330×10^-10, respectively.

Conclusions Packing hot soup food with plastic food bags could lead to the migration of PAEs from plastic bag to food, however, the health risk of migrated PAEs was lower than the acceptable level recommended by USEPA, which indicated that the risk of adverse health effect was negligible.