Chinese cooking with ionic seasonings may enhance migration of periluorooctanic acid from food contact articles

With its desirable water and oil resistant property, perfluorooctanic acid (PFOA) has been used as a key chemical in many consumer products and food contact articles (FCA), such as non-stick pans, oil-resistant food papers, carpets, textiles and paint. PFOA has been detected at noticeable levels in a wide range of environmental matrices. The present study investigated the safety of migration of PFOA at high temperature from non-stick cooking pans (125°C) and oil-resistant food papers (100°C) under simulated Chinese cooking conditions involving food oils and ionic seasonings (salts, soybean sauce, vinegar, tomato sauce). Results indicated that, in comparison with using oil alone, Chinese cooking using ionic seasonings in addition to oil would enhance migration of PFOA at a level up to 1.2 ng/dm2 in cooking pans and 9.2 ng/dm2 in food papers. Using a value of cumulative estimated daily intake of 6 ng/kg BW/day and the exposure scenario (food contact factor 155 g/dm2, body weight 60 kg, intake rate 3 kg/head) set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, this study suggests a regulatory limit to be set for both cooking pans and food papers at 25 and 50 ng/dm2 for PFOA, assuming a FCA consumption fraction of 0.8 and 0.4 for high and average consumers, respectively.