Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Canadian Fast Food Packaging

Heather Schwartz-Narbonne; Chunjie Xia; Anna Shalin; Heather D Whitehead; Diwen Yang; Graham F Peaslee; Zhanyun Wang; Yan Wu; Hui Peng; Arlene Blum; Marta Venier; Miriam L Diamond

doi:10.1021/acs.estlett.2c00926

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Canadian Fast Food Packaging

Environ Sci Technol Lett. 2023 Mar 28;10(4):343-349. doi: 10.1021/acs.estlett.2c00926. eCollection 2023 Apr 11.

Authors

Heather Schwartz-Narbonne¹, Chunjie Xia², Anna Shalin¹, Heather D Whitehead³, Diwen Yang^{1

4}, Graham F Peaslee⁵, Zhanyun Wang^{6

7}, Yan Wu², Hui Peng^{4

8}, Arlene Blum⁹, Marta Venier², Miriam L Diamond^{1

8}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto M5S 3B1, ON, Canada.
² O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, Bloomington 47405, Indiana, United States.
³ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame 46556, Indiana, United States.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto M5S 3H6, ON, Canada.
⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame 46556, Indiana, United States.
⁶ Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zürich, Zürich 8093, Switzerland.
⁷ Empa - Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Technology and Society Laboratory, St. Gallen CH-9014, Switzerland.
⁸ School of the Environment, University of Toronto, Toronto M5S 3E8, ON, Canada.
⁹ Green Science Policy Institute, Berkeley 94709, California, United States.

Abstract

A suite of analytical techniques was used to obtain a comprehensive picture of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in selected Canadian food packaging used for fast foods (n = 42). Particle-induced gamma ray emission spectroscopy revealed that 55% of the samples contained <3580, 19% contained 3580-10 800, and 26% > 10 800 μg F/m². The highest total F (1 010 000-1 300 000 μg F/m²) was measured in molded "compostable" bowls. Targeted analysis of 8 samples with high total F revealed 4-15 individual PFAS in each sample, with 6:2 fluorotelomer methacrylate (FTMAc) and 6:2 fluorotelomer alcohol (FTOH) typically dominating. Up to 34% of the total fluorine was released from samples after hydrolysis, indicating the presence of unknown precursors. Nontargeted analysis detected 22 PFAS from 6 different groups, including degradation products of FTOH. Results indicate the use of side-chain fluorinated polymers and suggest that these products can release short-chain compounds that ultimately can be transformed to compounds of toxicological concern. Analysis after 2 years of storage showed overall decreases in PFAS consistent with the loss of volatile compounds such as 6:2 FTMAc and FTOH. The use of PFAS in food packaging such as "compostable" bowls represents a regrettable substitution of single-use plastic food packaging.