May 10, 2017.
The National Health Security Agency (ANSES) has warned against the contamination of foodstuffs by mineral oils present in cardboard packaging. But how are these oils dangerous for health?
Reduce food contamination
This is not the first time that we have been alerted to the potential dangers of mineral oils in cardboard food packaging. In 2012, the European Health Agency (Efsa) argued that food exposure to these oils was ” worrying “. Today, it is ANSES’s turn to recommend “reduce contamination of foodstuffs by mineral oils“.
These oils are derivatives of hydrocarbons, suspected of being carcinogenic and mutagenic, that is to say that they can cause DNA damage. Two types of oils are implicated: MOAH (mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons) and MOSH (mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons). To avoid any danger, ANSES has asked to carry out “additional toxicity studies»On these oils.
Stop using these mineral oils
Until this toxicity is proven, ANSES asks the food industry to no longer use these oils in the composition of pasta, rice or semolina packaging., but to turn to “printing inks, glues, additives and processing aids»Without MOAH. A simple precautionary principle that would allow consumers not to come into contact with these harmful substances.
But ANSES is not keen to stop the use of these oils only in the agri-food sector. She also wants this precautionary principle to be applied to the products used “in the field of printing“, because “newspapers and other printed media entering the recycling sector are identified as the main sources of mineral oils in food packaging made from recycled paper and cardboard“.
Marine Rondot
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