Hydrocarbon contaminants in pizza boxes from the Italian market

Abstract

Abstract According to the Italian legislation, pizza boxes should be exclusively made of virgin fibers. Nevertheless, this requirement is often disregarded, exposing consumers to possible migration of different contaminants. This work investigated on the presence of hydrocarbon contaminants in pizza boxes collected in Italy, and their migration potential. Different sources of contamination were identified, the most important being illegal use of recycled fibers in 32 % of the total samples (12/38). The most contaminated cardboard reached 650 mg/kg of MOSH and 70 mg/kg of MOAH C10-C35. Two of the virgin paperboards with the highest MOSH contamination (44 and 68 mg/kg) had the typical profile of a food grade product, probably used during manufacturing. A third contamination source (15 % of the samples) was related to the use of printing ink containing alkylbenzenes. All the cardboard boxes contained PAHs below the limit proposed by the CEPI Industry Guideline (0.0016 mg/dm2) published in 2012. Cardboard made of recycled fiber showed higher levels of chrysene. Assessment of potential migration and preliminary migration tests using Tenax® indicated that PAH migration was of low concern, while MOH migration could reach levels higher than 2 mg/kg of MOSH, and 0.5 mg/kg of MOAH, even when a small amount of the contamination (5%) present in the cardboard migrated into the pizza. Based on data obtained with migration test using Tenax®, and taking as reference the consumption of one pizza per week, it was calculated that MOSH migration from cardboard boxes could contribute for about 10 % to the total dietary intake.