Official seeks ban on polythene bags to carry food

Experts warn using polythene bags to carry hot food items will lead to life-threatening illnesses, including cancer .

A Dubai Municipality official has called for a ban on using polythene bags to carry bread items in traditional kitchens in Dubai.
Ahmed Elghali Mohamed Khalil, a senior food health inspector with the Food Safety Department, made the proposal after studying the level of migration of plastic components to food items in polyethylene bags used for serving hot breads in 17 traditional bakeries here.
Though the level of plastic components seeping into the food was found to be within the permissible limits, Khalil told Khaleej Times, he has sought to end the practice as continuous usage can cause diseases including cancer.
The details of the study conducted as part of his master's degree were presented at the poster section of the 10th Dubai International Food Safety Conference that was held last week.
Khalil said he took samples of high density polyethylene plastic bags from 17 traditional kitchens in Satwa and Al Bada areas that give away hot bread items in such cheap plastic covers from 2013.
"The migration limits under the European standards is 10mg per square decimeter of surface area of test specimen. But here it was found to be as low as 2.29mg. But, if it is used for long term, it can affect the health of the consumers and can cause various diseases including cancer."
However, he said stimulant of acetic food showed even higher migration of plastic to the food.
"Apart from the environmental problems caused by plastic bags, we need to look at these health issues also as it can become a problem when we compare it with the Tolerable Daily Intake of an individual for a long time."
Khalil said he has made strong recommendations to the municipality to ban the polythene bags for carrying food items and to promote alternatives like paper bags.
"I have also designed a food grade paper bag with advice to the consumers to use paper bags free from contaminants and avoid getting cancer."
He said his proposals have been approved, but not yet implemented.
"In future it is likely that the municipality will apply these proposals i.e. banning the use of plastic bags for taking away food and advocating the use of food grade paper bags instead."
sajila@khaleejtimes.com