29th Mar 2017 - 08:53
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Abstract
New research from Univerisite Paris-Saclay suggests food packaging rules are misleading and potentially dangerous, not tailored to its contents and that packaging could cause the spread of chemicals.
Olivier Vitrac from INRA, Europe’s agricultural research institute, said: “Contamination of food is concerning and regulations are supposed to be strict about this."
A new method has been devised by the university with partners INRA and AgroParisTech to work out the extent substances can dissolve in others.
Vitrac said: “Previously collected data and this study suggests that the real chemical affinity of substituted aromatic compounds for water could be strongly underestimated by previous oversimplified rules and that tailored methods, such as this one, would be preferable.
“The industry needs to address today’s loose, outdated food packaging rules as soon as possible.”