Newcastle University

Project:

Measurement of Packaged Food Intake of Selected Groups of Adults by Kilogram Body Weight to Include Type of Packaging and Food Stuff

From November 2007 to August 2009
Project Leader(s): Dr Emma Foster PI, Dr Ashley Adamson,
Staff: Dr Paula Moynihan
Contact: emma.foster@ncl.ac.uk
Sponsors: Food Standards Agency

Food purchasing patterns have changed dramatically over the past 50 years. It is now becoming difficult to purchase food that has not, at some time, been stored in a container such as a crate or packaging such as plastic or paper and board. The term under which food containers fall is Food Contact Material (FCM).  

In 2006 staff at the Human Nutrition Research Centre completed a project funded by Food Standards Agency to quantify the packaged food intake of children and the use of associated food contact materials.  The results and findings together with a full report of this study "Measurement of packaged food intake by children, by kilogram body weight, to include type of packaging and foodstuff" are available from the Food Standards Agency website.

In addition to information on the type of food consumed the type of packaging and surface area of the packaging were determined and recorded.  EU legislation states that food contact materials shall be safe and shall not transfer their components into the foodstuff in unacceptable quantities.  At the time, guidelines were calculated for an average adult of 60kg consuming 1kg packaged food/day. This was an assumption and not based on measured intakes. The packaged food consumption of adults is unknown.

In July 2007 a further study "Packaged Food Intake in Students and Older Adults" commenced to measure the average daily intake of packaged food (by kg body weight) of selected groups of adults in England, UK.  In particular, some adults (those living independently for the first time and older adults) may have a higher than average consumption of packaged food and therefore potential increased risk of exposure, compared with the general population.  Once again, a full report is available from the Food Standards Agency website.