Leprino Foods: No

1 March 2006 -- 5 Leprino Foods: NoPolydimethylsiloxanein Pizza Cheeseby Pete HardinLeprino Foods senior vice president for mar-keting and sales, Robert D. Boynton, has asserted thathis company is not using polydimethylsiloxane in themanufacture of Leprino s Pizza Cheese sold toPizza Hut. Boynton s assertion was made in a terse,February 17, 2006 letter sent to The Milkweed. Theentire letter is reprinted on this s letter was written in response to anarticle appearing in the February 2006 issue titled, Clean Up Pizza Hut s Silicone-Laden Cheese! Boynton claims that Leprino is not usingpolydimethylsiloxane in Pizza Cheese produced un-der Patent #4,894,245. Boynton claims that the18-year old patent (issued to Leprino Foods), which islisted on boxes of Pizza Cheese , is not relevant. Your false statements appear to be based onyour reading of an eighteen year old Leprino patent,and a factually baseless leap to the conclusion thatLeprino must practice every facet of any patent evergranted to it, Boynton s letter implicitly threatened legal action byLeprino if The Milkweed did not act in a manner con-sidered appropriate to Leprino s letter did not acknowledge or denyprior use by Leprino Foods of polydimethylsiloxanein manufacture of its Pizza Cheese.

2 Based uponwhat further information The Milkweed has gleanedabout polydimethylsiloxane, it is good that LeprinoFoods is not presently using that chemical in its PizzaCheese . (See accompanying article.)Thus, we may conclude that Pizza Hut s PizzaCheese has been cleaned , any consumer concerns aboutpolydimethyl-siloxane in foods should not be directedat Pizza Hut. Instead, concerns should be directed atthe FDA, which has approved use of that chemical administrative decision by the federal Foodand Drug Administration, published in the FederalRegister on December 24, 1998, approved use ofpolydimethylsiloxane in human foods (except milk).The FDA decision was approved five years after arequest by Dow Corning a manufacturer ofpolydimethylsiloxane had formally sought when subjected tohigher temperatures degrades into compounds thatinclude Formaldel hyde, which is a widely recognizedcancer-causing , that same December 24, 1998 FDAdecision on allowing use of polydimethylsiloxane inhuman foods, allows direct use of Formaldehyde (ata concentration not exceeding one percent of theweight of the polydimethylsiloxane) as a preserva-tive agent in defoaming agents containingdimethylpolysiloxane.

3 In other words, FDA rulesallow use of a known cancer-causing agent (Formal-dehyde) to preserve polydimethylsiloxane, whichitself breaks down into Formaldehyde!Despite the fact that FDA administratively ap-proved use of that silicone-based chemical in foods,polydimethylsiloxane is NOT listed as an approvedsubstance for inclusion in foods under FDA s Gen-erally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) food is apparently used in pro-cessing a wide variety of human s permitting use of polydimethylsiloxanein human foods limits the presence to 10 parts permillion. Here s the exact FDA language from theDecember 24, 1998 decision: Limitations 10 parts per million in food or at such level ina concentrated food that when prepared as directedon the labels, the food in its ready-for-consumptionstate will have not more than 10 parts per millionexcept as following: Zero in milk; 110 parts per mil-lion in dry gelatin dessert mixes labeled for usewhereby no more than 16 parts per million is presentin the ready-to-serve dessert; 250 parts per million insalt labeled for cooking purposes, whereby no morethan 10 parts per million is present in the cookedfood.

4 FDA s decision was published under Title 21,Section (Defoaming agents) of the agency sfood safety codes. The FDA decision specifies thatuse of polydimethylsiloxane must include: (1) Substances generally recognized by quali-fied experts as safe in food or covered by prior sanc-tions for the use prescribed by this section. That language from FDA literally flips the de-termination on safety to the heat, degrades into FormaldehydeGE Silicones of Waterford, New York produceda September 1999 paper titled, Regarding the Evo-lution of Formaldehyde fromPolydimethylsiloxanes. The paper noted that thefederal Occupational Health and Safety Administra-tion has set regulations for formaldehyde and mate-rials capable of releasing formaldehyde into the air,under reasonably foreseeable conditions of use, atconcentrations reaching or exceeding parts permillion.

5 GE Silicones paper analyses data showing thatformaldehyde is released from polydimethylsiloxanesin increasing quantities, as temperatures increase. Thepaper concludes: One can conclude that there isvery little formaldehyde evolved until about 200 de-grees C (392 degrees F). An accompanying chartdetails how dramatically larger amounts of Formal-dehyde are released from Polydimethylsiloxane attemperatures at and above 250 degrees Centigrade(482 degrees Fahrenheit).The GE Silicones paper advised that the firmcannot give assurances that release of Formaldehyde(from polydimethylsiloxanes) will comply withOSHA guidelines. GE Silicone s policy encouragesmonitoring by a trained environmental health spe-cialist if there is a Material Safety Data Sheet (G-9030) pro-duced by NuSil Technology (Carpinteria, California)warns firefighters of unusual fire and explosion haz-ards regarding polydimethylsiloxane.

6 Which cangenerate formaldehyde as a byproduct of oxidativethermal decomposition at temperatures greater than150 degrees C (300 degrees F).NuSil s Material Safety Data Sheet notes: Formaldehyde is a potential carcinogen. Green Media Toolshed details Formaldehyde Scorecard described as The Pollution In-formation Site details the following informationabout is listed as a carcinogen. Form-aldehyde is also listed as a suspected: gastrointesti-nal or liver toxicant, immunotoxicant, neurotoxicant,reproductive toxicant, respiratory toxicant, skin orsense organ toxicantFormaldehyde, that Web site notes, is Rankedas one of the most hazardous compounds (worst 10%)to ecosystems and human health. FDA Approved Polydimethylsiloxane in Foods in 1998by Pete HardinChemical forms formaldehyde(a carcinogen) under heat