What are the controls on acrylamide in food packaging?
There are European Union rules on acrylamide in plastics that are intended to come into contact with food or drink. These say that acrylamide should not migrate from plastics into food or drink at a detectable level because of acrylamide’s toxicity in laboratory animals. There are no EU rules for other types of food packaging, such as paper and board, but in Great Britain chemical migration from paper and board is covered by the Materials and Articles in Contact with Food Regulations 1987 and of the Food Safety Act 1990. Similar controls apply in Northern Ireland.
