Stories about the dangers of chemicals leaching from plastic into microwaved food have circulated on the Internet for years. As a result, the Food and Drug Administration continues to receive inquires from concerned consumers.Consumers can be confident as they heat holiday meals or leftovers in the microwave because the FDA carefully reviews the substances used to make plastics designed for food use."It"s true that substances used to make plastics can leach into food, " says Edward Machuga, Ph. D. , a consumer safety officer in the FDA"s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. "But as part of the approval process, the FDA considers the amount of a substance expected to migrate into food and the toxicological concerns about the particular chemical." The agency has assessed migration levels of substances added to regulated plastics and has found the levels to be well within the margin of safety based on information available to the agency. The FDA will revisit its safety evaluation if new scientific information raises concerns.One chemical called diethylhexyl adipate(DEHA)has received a lot of media attention. DEHA is a plasticizer, a substance added to some plastics to make them flexible. DEHA exposure may occur when eating certain foods wrapped in plastics, especially fatty foods such as meat and cheese. But the levels are very low. The levels of the plasticizer that might be consumed as a result of plastic film use are well below the levels showing no toxic effect in animal studies. [Keywords]Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition 食品安全和应用营养中心 toxicological adj. 毒物学的 plasticizer n. 增塑剂