Overview
- A mid-June 2026 peer-reviewed study by IDAEA-CSIC published in Environment International reproduced common home storage — refrigeration at 4 °C for 48 hours and freezing at −18 °C for 30 days — using salmon, tuna and merluza to measure chemical transfer from containers to fish.
- The researchers detected migration of four additive groups — phthalates, organophosphate esters, bisphenols and alternative plasticizers — and identified bisphenol A as the largest single contributor to calculated health risk.
- Transfer varied by fish type and packaging with fatty fish like salmon taking up fat-soluble additives more readily and watery species like merluza showing higher migration of some bisphenols, and every tested container type allowed some transfer.
- Some measured transfers were very high, reaching roughly 100% for certain bisphenols and over 95% for DEHA in salmon, and longer contact times produced higher additive concentrations in the fish.
- When researchers compared exposures with EFSA-based safety limits they found nearly half of modeled scenarios exceeded thresholds, the worst being merluza frozen 30 days in compostable trays, which reinforces the EU’s 2024 bisphenol restrictions and the need for safety testing of replacement additives.