Q & A on the Safety of Polystyrene Foodservice Products
What do regulatory agencies say about the safety of polystyrene foodservice products?
What do public health organizations say about the safety of polystyrene foodservice products?
What do scientific experts say about the safety of polystyrene foodservice products?
Is it common for substances from packaging to “migrate” into food?
Does styrene occur in nature?
Where do people come into contact with styrene?
What do regulatory agencies say about the safety of polystyrene foodservice products?
Based on scientific tests over five decades, government safety agencies have determined that polystyrene is safe for use in foodservice products. For example, polystyrene meets the stringent standards of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Commission/European Food Safety Authority for use in packaging to store and serve food. The Hong Kong Food and Environmental Hygiene Department recently reviewed the safety of serving various foods in polystyrene foodservice products and reached the same conclusion as the U.S. FDA.
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What do public health organizations say about the safety of polystyrene foodservice products?
Public health officials encourage the use of sanitary, single-use foodservice products (such as polystyrene) in appropriate settings because they can help reduce food borne illness in homes, hospitals, schools, nursing homes, cafeterias and restaurants.
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What do scientific experts say about the safety of polystyrene foodservice products?
A twelve-member panel of international experts selected by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis reported in 2002 that the very low levels of styrene present in foods – whether naturally occurring or from polystyrene foodservice products – does not represent a concern to human health.
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Is it common for substances from packaging to “migrate” into food?
All packaging—glass, aluminum, paper and plastic (including polystyrene)—contains substances that can "migrate" in very tiny amounts to foods or beverages. That’s one of the reasons why FDA regulates food packaging in the first place—to be confident that the amount of migrated substances does not present a health concern. Test data submitted to the FDA indicated that the migration of styrene from polystyrene foodservice products is tiny and expected to be significantly below the safety limits set by FDA itself—10,000 times less than FDA’s acceptable daily intake level.
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Does styrene occur in nature?
Styrene occurs naturally in many foods and beverages. Its chemical structure is similar to cinnamic aldehyde, the chemical component that creates cinnamon's flavor. Styrene also can be manufactured and is a building block in materials used to to make automobiles, electronics, boats, recreational vehicles and countless other consumer products. When strung together into a polymer (plastic), styrene becomes a completely different material called polystyrene.
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Where do people come into contact with styrene?
As a substance that occurs naturally in our environment, styrene comes into contact with people primarily from the tiny amounts that are present in the air. Styrene is naturally present in many foods, such as cinnamon, beef, coffee beans, peanuts, wheat, oats, strawberries and peaches. In addition, styrene is approved by the FDA as a food additive, and it can be added in small amounts to baked goods, frozen dairy products, candy, gelatins, puddings and other food.
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