Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Apr 2;58(13):5670-5684.
doi: 10.1021/acs.est.3c03702. Epub 2024 Mar 19.

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Food Packaging: Migration, Toxicity, and Management Strategies

Drake W Phelps  1 , Lindsey V Parkinson  2 , Justin M Boucher  2 , Jane Muncke  2 , Birgit Geueke  2
Affiliations

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Food Packaging: Migration, Toxicity, and Management Strategies

Drake W Phelps et al. Environ Sci Technol. .

Abstract

PFASs are linked to serious health and environmental concerns. Among their widespread applications, PFASs are known to be used in food packaging and directly contribute to human exposure. However, information about PFASs in food packaging is scattered. Therefore, we systematically map the evidence on PFASs detected in migrates and extracts of food contact materials and provide an overview of available hazard and biomonitoring data. Based on the FCCmigex database, 68 PFASs have been identified in various food contact materials, including paper, plastic, and coated metal, by targeted and untargeted analyses. 87% of these PFASs belong to the perfluorocarboxylic acids and fluorotelomer-based compounds. Trends in chain length demonstrate that long-chain perfluoroalkyl acids continue to be found, despite years of global efforts to reduce the use of these substances. We utilized ToxPi to illustrate that hazard data are available for only 57% of the PFASs that have been detected in food packaging. For those PFASs for which toxicity testing has been performed, many adverse outcomes have been reported. The data and knowledge gaps presented here support international proposals to restrict PFASs as a group, including their use in food contact materials, to protect human and environmental health.

Keywords: PFAS; Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances; food contact chemicals; food packaging.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Evidence of PFASs in FCMs. (A) PFASs mostly found in targeted analyses: Studies and reports showing PFASs in FCMs were analyzed according to publication year and whether they used targeted or nontargeted approaches. (B) PFCAs and fluorotelomer-based PFASs dominate FCCmigex entries: PFASs that were detected in FCMs were categorized based on structures described in Wang et al. (PFCAs: perfluorocarboxylic acids, PFSAs: perfluorosulfonic acids, PASF: perfluoroalkane sulfonyl fluoride, PFECAs: perfluoroalkyl ether carboxylic acids). (C) Paper and board FCMs are where PFASs are most commonly detected: FCCmigex entries for PFASs were graphed based on the type of FCM where the PFAS was detected. (D) Long-chain PFAAs in FCCmigex are still regularly detected in FCMs: Given that PFAAs are a large portion of FCCmigex entries, the entries for PFAAs were categorized based on their chain length. Long-chain PFCAs and PFSAs carry an alkyl chain with at least seven and six carbon atoms, respectively. Short-chain PFCAs and PFSAs have an alkyl chain with not more than six and five carbon atoms, respectively.
Figure 2
Figure 2
ToxPi analysis highlights hazard data gaps for PFASs in FCCmigex. (A) Overall ToxPi model for ToxPi analysis incorporating data from FCCmigex (1.-3.), USEPA CompTox Dashboard (4.-5.), and human biomonitoring programs and databases (6.). (B) Summary of ToxPi scores for PFASs found in FCCmigex. Compounds are ranked from the highest ToxPi score (1.0) to the lowest ToxPi score (0.0). All individual ToxPis can be found in Figure S1.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

  • Evidence for widespread human exposure to food contact chemicals.
    Geueke B, Parkinson LV, Groh KJ, Kassotis CD, Maffini MV, Martin OV, Zimmermann L, Scheringer M, Muncke J. Geueke B, et al. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2024 Sep 17. doi: 10.1038/s41370-024-00718-2. Online ahead of print. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2024. PMID: 39285208 Review.

References

    1. Cousins I. T.; Johansson J. H.; Salter M. E.; Sha B.; Scheringer M. Outside the Safe Operating Space of a New Planetary Boundary for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS). Environ. Sci. Technol. 2022, 56 (16), 11172–11179. 10.1021/acs.est.2c02765. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. US Environment Protection Agency . USEPA PFAS Master List of PFAS Substances. https://comptox.epa.gov/dashboard/chemical-lists/PFASMASTER (accessed November 23, 2022).
    1. Glüge J.; Scheringer M.; Cousins I. T.; DeWitt J. C.; Goldenman G.; Herzke D.; Lohmann R.; Ng C. A.; Trier X.; Wang Z. An overview of the uses of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts 2020, 22 (12), 2345–2373. 10.1039/D0EM00291G. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. ECHA . Annex XV Restriction Report: Proposal for a Restriction of Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. 2023. https://www.echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/f605d4b5-7c17-7414-8823-b49b9... (accessed February 23, 2023).
    1. US Environment Protection Agency . EPA’s Proposal to Limit PFAS in Drinking Water - Fact Sheet. 2023. https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-04/Fact%20Sheet_PFAS_NPW... (accessed February 24, 2024).