A Comparative Study on the Migration of Substances from Microwavable Plastic Food Containers into Food by Microwave and Conventional Heating

In this study, the migration of substances from food contact plastics to food was compared between microwave and conventional heating. Overall and specific migrated substances including overall migrants (OMs), lead (Pb), antimony (Sb), 1-hexene, 1-octene, terephthalic acid, isophthalic acid, and bisphenol A from the microwavable plastics were investigated. Safety assessments were performed by comparing the estimated daily intakes with the health-based guidance values. Migration tests were carried out using food simulants of 4% acetic acid, water, and 20% ethanol corresponding to the acidic, aqueous, and fatty foods, respectively. As a result, concentrations of OMs were 4.3–7.8 and 4.8–7.7 mg/L on average when using microwave and conventional heating methods, respectively. Moreover, all of the microwavable plastic food containers analyzed here met the current regulatory limits in Korea. It was assessed that there were no statistically significant differences (p > 0.05) between microwave and conventional heating methods for the studied test items. In addition, the dietary exposures of the specific migrated substances from the microwavable plastic materials (polyethylene, polypropylene, polycyclohexane-1,4-di-methylene terephthalate, and polycarbonate) were considered as safe. Although there are limitations of experimental methodology in this study, the current results showed that there is no need to be concerned about the use of microwavable plastic food containers in Korea.