DEHP limit approved

June 03, 2011

The Expert Committee on Food Safety has endorsed a cap of 1.5mg/kg on plastic additive DEHP in food. The Centre for Food Safety suggests items exceeding this limit be banned, as it indicates food adulteration or the misuse of packaging materials.
 
Committee chairman Prof Kwan Hoi-shan today rejected a zero tolerance approach to the additive, saying food can be unintentionally contaminated by DEHP in the environment.
 
Instead, the proposed limit will still protect public health as it allows officials to see whether the additive has been purposely added to items or whether the contamination was environmentally accidental.
 
"DEHP is not a food additive and the addition of DEHP into food is not approved by the World Health Organisation. [However], DEHP may be present in food due to migration from food contact materials such as packaging materials and tubes, or from environmental contaminations," he said.
 
The committee also endorsed the centre's recommendation to include DEHP in Hong Kong's routine surveillance of prepackaged food produced with clouding agents.