Assessment of mutagenicity caused by popular baby foods and baby plastic-ware products: An imperative study using microbial bioassays and migration analysis

Specialized products for infants have become every parent's first choice. Although these products claim to be safe and mild for infant use, yet there is a need to monitor them using different tools for mutagenicity detection to ensure further safety. In this study, a range of popular ready to eat and powdered baby foods, formula milk powders and attractive plasticware for infants were picked from the Indian market and tested for their mutagenicity using two microbial bioassays based on Salmonella typhimurium, viz., Ames bacterial reversion assay and fluctuation assay. Furthermore, chemical migration analysis was done on the most toxic baby food and baby plasticware samples as shown by the bioassays to detect possible leaching of Bisphenol a (BPA), lead and Di-2 ethyl hexyl phthalate (DEHP). It was surprising to find that the products made for the most risk-prone group in the society, i.e., infants have a significant potential to cause mutagenicity.