Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Temperature dependent leaching of substances from polyamide oven bags is toxic to zooplankton Daphnia magna

Ekvall, Mikael T. LU ; Boo, Kevin LU ; Lundqvist, Martin LU and Cedervall, Tommy LU (2026) In Chemosphere 410.
Abstract
Oven bags are widely used in cooking to improve food juiciness and flavor while minimizing dishwashing. These bags are commonly manufactured from plastics such as polyamide (PA, nylon) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). However, plastics used in food preparation may release additives, microplastics, or nanoplastics into food during heating, raising potential environmental and health concerns. This study investigated whether PA- and PET-based oven bags release leachates and/or micro- and nanoplastic particles during cooking and evaluated the toxicity of these materials using the freshwater zooplankter Daphnia magna. Toxicity tests on Daphnia magna showed no significant effects from room-temperature leachates, whereas... (More)
Oven bags are widely used in cooking to improve food juiciness and flavor while minimizing dishwashing. These bags are commonly manufactured from plastics such as polyamide (PA, nylon) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). However, plastics used in food preparation may release additives, microplastics, or nanoplastics into food during heating, raising potential environmental and health concerns. This study investigated whether PA- and PET-based oven bags release leachates and/or micro- and nanoplastic particles during cooking and evaluated the toxicity of these materials using the freshwater zooplankter Daphnia magna. Toxicity tests on Daphnia magna showed no significant effects from room-temperature leachates, whereas material released at elevated temperatures caused significant immobilization. Fractionation experiments indicated that toxicity was primarily associated with small molecular components rather than larger particles. Additional experiments showed that PET oven bags released substantially less material and produced no detectable toxicity under the tested conditions. These results demonstrate that PA oven bags can release temperature-dependent toxic leachates during cooking. The findings highlight the importance of evaluating food-contact plastics for potential chemical release during typical cooking conditions. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Chemosphere
volume
410
article number
145032
pages
6 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • pmid:42480496
  • scopus:105044976727
ISSN
0045-6535
DOI
10.1016/j.chemosphere.2026.145032
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2026 The Authors.
id
d1fdd32c-0e72-4479-ae7f-add87f862fa3
date added to LUP
2026-08-18 13:50:04
date last changed
2026-09-01 14:44:57
@article{d1fdd32c-0e72-4479-ae7f-add87f862fa3,
  abstract     = {{Oven bags are widely used in cooking to improve food juiciness and flavor while minimizing dishwashing. These bags are commonly manufactured from plastics such as polyamide (PA, nylon) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). However, plastics used in food preparation may release additives, microplastics, or nanoplastics into food during heating, raising potential environmental and health concerns. This study investigated whether PA- and PET-based oven bags release leachates and/or micro- and nanoplastic particles during cooking and evaluated the toxicity of these materials using the freshwater zooplankter <em>Daphnia magna</em>. Toxicity tests on <em>Daphnia magna</em> showed no significant effects from room-temperature leachates, whereas material released at elevated temperatures caused significant immobilization. Fractionation experiments indicated that toxicity was primarily associated with small molecular components rather than larger particles. Additional experiments showed that PET oven bags released substantially less material and produced no detectable toxicity under the tested conditions. These results demonstrate that PA oven bags can release temperature-dependent toxic leachates during cooking. The findings highlight the importance of evaluating food-contact plastics for potential chemical release during typical cooking conditions.}},
  author       = {{Ekvall, Mikael T. and Boo, Kevin and Lundqvist, Martin and Cedervall, Tommy}},
  issn         = {{0045-6535}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Chemosphere}},
  title        = {{Temperature dependent leaching of substances from polyamide oven bags is toxic to zooplankton <i>Daphnia magna</i>}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2026.145032}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.chemosphere.2026.145032}},
  volume       = {{410}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}