Baby food jars contain ‘cancer-causing chemical’

GLASS jars of baby food contain a low level of a cancer-causing chemical, it emerged yesterday.

While the level of the chemical poses minimal risk to children, the European Food Safety Authority is urging food companies to find different ways to package their products.

The chemical in the baby food jars comes from the sealant used by manufacturers.

The authority has advised manufacturers to stop using the chemical semi carbazide, or SEM, as soon as possible.

However, the authority doesn’t plan to ban its use and said parents did not need to stop feeding their children food from jars as the cancer risk was minimal.

In a statement, the EFSA said the risk, if any, to both adults and children was very small.

“Nevertheless, experts believe it would be prudent to reduce the presence of SEM in baby foods as swiftly as technological progress allows,” they said.

The chemical was only found in small amounts of foods, including pickles, jams, fruit juices and baby foods.

It is thought SEM is produced during the heat treatment used to make the sealing gaskets in the lids of the jars and bottles.

From here it could then spread to the food contained inside.

Chairwoman of the EFSA panel, Dr Sue Barlow, said: “The risk to consumers resulting from the possible presence of semicarbazide in foods, if any, is judged to be very small.

“Although there are uncertainties in the risk assessment due to lack of full data at the present, these relate only to how to assess what is considered to be a very small risk.”

EFSA chairman Sir John Krebs said: “There is considerable uncertainty about the possible risks from semicarbazide.

“Because of this we have made clear to the European Commission and the food industry that alternative methods for sealing jars of food should be developed as a precautionary measure.”

The EFSA also recommended the European Commission monitor the industry to make sure the sealing gaskets are changed as quickly as possible.

The food industry is investigating alternative packaging materials and sealing technologies for baby foods.

The authority said any new method should be evaluated carefully to ensure it seals well before being introduced.