MAGNETS FOR METAL FRAGMENT CONTROL AND FOOD SAFETY DAIRY POWDERS GRAIN INLINE GRAIN GRAIN DAIRY DAIRY GRAVITY GRAVITY 40 years experience in food safety magnetics NZ 021 770 902 AUS 61 2 4272 5527 E: magnets@magnattackglobal.com www.magnattack.co.nz 30 APRIL 2016 International Endorsement by HACCP Australia DAIRY DAIRY LIQUIDS LIQUIDS DAIRY PNEUMATIC TRANSFER PNEUMATIC TRANSFER SELF CLEANING LIQUIDS SELF CLEANING MAG-RAM™ RAPIDCLEAN FT027 T E S T I N G CHEMICAL LEACHING INTO NZ FOOD CHECKED OUT Chemicals that can leach into food products and disrupt hormones in humans are being collected by the Ministry for Primary Industries for study. The chemicals, from the ‘phthalates’ family and called DEHP and DINP, have been found in Australian food products such as bread, takeaway hamburgers, peanut butter and pizza – and in one case, exceeded global guidelines by 350 per cent. The group of chemicals are used to soften plastic, but can also mimic the effects of the body’s endocrine system which makes hormones to regulate the body. MPI has confirmed it is sampling a range of packaged foods in New Zealand, with around 70 samples in total. When finished, the study results will be published publically and submitted to FSANZ to support a review of the current regulatory framework of food packaging materials in Australia and New Zealand. More than 80 samples of Australian foods were checked for traces of 30 chemicals used in plastic packaging. Most were undetectable or well below international thresholds, but DEHP and DINP were found in a few foods. Australian scientist Ian Musgrave advised people not to panic, as health risks from packaging were “miniscule. “Like it or not, food packaging is an important part of food safety. Proper food packaging prevents foods being contaminated during transport storage and sale, as well as improving their shelf life. You would have to consume over 100kg of baked beans with the highest levels of BPA a day, every day, to reach the TDI (tolerable daily intake) threshold.” Musgrave says to exceed the maximum intake of DEHP and DINP would mean consuming 200g of the affected peanut butter, or 600g of the affected pizza each and every day. FSANZ’s Lorraine Haase says the Australian results reflected that the study was primarily looking for other chemicals and the foods selected were biased toward them.
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