Apparently cereal boxes that are made of recycled materials can be hazardous for your health. In a nutshell, printing ink of recycled newspapers that are used in these cardboard boxes contain mineral oils which may get into the food. These oils are linked to inflammation of internal organs and even cancer.
Jordans - whose brands include Country Crisp and Crunchy Oats - has already stopped using recycled cardboard, while Kellogg's and Weetabix say they are taking steps to reduce the risk to human health.
The alert was sparked when researchers in Switzerland found that mineral oils in printing ink from recycled newspapers used in cardboard can get into foods - even passing through protective inner plastic bags.
Brands of pasta and rice which are packaged in recycled cardboard could also pose a risk.
The Swiss researchers analysed a total of 119 products bought from German supermarkets last year and found that a large majority contained traces of mineral oils higher than the agreed level. Only those with thicker and more expensive inner lining bags appeared to escape contamination, which increased the longer products were on the shelves.
''Roughly 30 products from 119 were free of mineral oils, nearly all because of an inner barrier,'' said Dr Grob. ''For the others, they all exceeded the limits and most exceeded it by 10 times.Do check out the full article. There's also a related article on How Mineral Oils from Recycled Paper Enter Food. Interestingly, there have been quite a number of food scares in recent year. No, not just in China as a few of you are probably thinking. There were food scares in Britain and Japan in recent years. Are all these problems with toxins in food new? Or have they existed all along but it's just that people lived without knowing the problem? What do you guys think?
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