Migration of aluminum from food contact materials to food—a health risk for consumers? Part III of III: migration of aluminum to food from camping dishes and utensils made of aluminum

• Published in: Environmental sciences Europe Vol. 29; no. 1; p. 17
• Main Authors: Stahl, Thorsten, Falk, Sandy, Rohrbeck, Alice, Georgii, Sebastian, Herzog, Christin, Wiegand, Alexander, Hotz, Svenja, Boschek, Bruce, Zorn, Holger, Brunn, Hubertus
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2017; SpringerOpen
• Subjects: Aluminum camping utensils; Aluminum dishes; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; environmental chemistry and ecology; Foodstuffs; Pollution; Progress in ecotoxicology; Release limits; Simulants; Weekly intake; Aluminum dishes; Simulants; Foodstuffs; Weekly intake; Aluminum camping utensils; Release limits
• ISSN: 2190-4707; 2190-4715
• DOI: 10.1186/s12302-017-0117-x

Background When cooking on a barbecue grill, consumers often use aluminum grill pans. For one, the pan catches the fats and oils that would drip into the embers causing the formation of potentially noxious smoke, and the pan also protects the food from being burned by direct heat from the coals. In addition, new aluminum products for use in ovens and grills are becoming increasingly popular. Due to their light weight and excellent heat transfer camping, utensils made of aluminum are, for example, often used by fishermen and mountain climbers. Preparing food in aluminum utensils can, however, result in migration of the aluminum to the foodstuffs. Results/Conclusions In this study presented here, it was found that the transfer limit of 5.00 mg/L for aluminum is not exceeded using simulants for oil or for tap water; however, with an aqueous solution of 0.5% citric acid, the limit is clearly exceeded at 638 mg/L. This means that the Tolerable Weekly Intake (TWI) is exceeded by 298% for a child weighing 15 kg and for an adult weighing 70 kg it is equivalent to 63.8% of the TWI, assuming a daily uptake of 10 mL marinade containing lemon juice over a period of 1 week. Preparation of a fish dish with a marinade containing lemon juice in camping dishes would result in the TWI being exceeded by 871% for a child weighing 15 kg and by 187% for an adult weighing 70 kg assuming a daily uptake of 250 g over a period of 1 week.