Effects of Paper Food Packaging Materials on Food Safety

Paper, as the most traditional packaging material, is widely used in people's daily life because of its low packaging price, good flexibility in production, easy to shape and decorate, convenient storage and transportation. People often make paper into paper bags, cartons, cartons, cups, paper tubes and other containers to package food. However, paper packaging materials also have some potential safety hazards.

Some of the paper packaging materials are produced by waste paper. In the process of collecting raw materials, there will be some mildewed paper. After production, a large number of mould and pathogenic bacteria will be produced. Food packaging used for food will spoil and deteriorate. At the same time, recycled waste paper may contain harmful substances such as lead, cadmium, polychlorinated biphenyls, which can cause dizziness, insomnia, forgetfulness and even cancer.

Some food factories do not use special inks for food packaging when using paper food packaging materials. Most of these non-special inks contain organic solvents such as toluene, which may cause excessive benzene solvents in food. Benzene solvents are more toxic. If they penetrate into skin or blood vessels, they will endanger human hematopoietic function and damage human body. The nervous system of human body even leads to leukemia.

Some additives, such as sizing agent, bleaching agent and dyeing agent, are usually added to the pulp in the process of papermaking. For example, paper treated with fluorescent brightener contains fluorescent chemical pollutants, which are highly soluble in water and easily migrate into the human body. When fluorescent bleaching agent enters the human body, it is difficult to decompose after being absorbed by the human body, which will aggravate the burden on the liver. At the same time, medical experiments have confirmed that fluorescent substances can mutate cells, and if exposed to excessive amounts, they may have carcinogenic effects.

So, we must choose FOOD GRADE paper as the packaging material for food.