Food Contact Materials

Food contact materials (FCM) must be produced according to highist hygiene standards and requirements prescribed by adequate legislation, and in that sense it must not release chemicals into the food, or react with food or affect its sensory properties. According to Castle, there is no ideally inert packaging material and everyone can release certain chemicals into food under certain conditions. The control of these processes is regulated in European Union by certain legislation, but not to a sufficient extent. 17 FCMs is recognized by European Framework Regulation (EC) 1935/2004 ,but smaller part of it is covered by specific regulations. Almost 30% of the 12,285 chemicals recorded in the FCM Database of food contact chemicals used in the production of food contact materials all over the world (established on the end of last year) is without informations on safety assesment. This points to a worrying gap in FCM legislation and safety data. In order to better protect consumers, there is an urgent need to revise and improve this legislation and to assess safety.

Food contact materials include both packaging materials and utensils, plates, containers, processing machines, etc. The use of plastic utensils for cooking and frying (spatulas, stirrers, utensils for overturning food, ladles, slotted spoons or having other forms) has increased in recent years, as these items are inexpensive and unbreakable, available widely in the market, relatively resistant to high temperatures and do not scratch the surface of the dishes. Most of them are made of different types of nylon, known under the chemical name Polyamide (PA). If the monomer ratio is well balanced, and the reaction of the chemical synthesis is completed, all the monomers are incorporated into the polymer structure. When the balance between monomers is inappropriate, however, free monomers or  socyanates remain and can migrate to food and to form primary aromatic amines (PAA). PAA can end up in food as residual monomers from food contact materials, as hydrolysis products of isocyanates or as contaminants from azo dyes. They may be formed chemically in food or to migrate to it from food contact materials if they are not produced in compliance with good manufacturing practice.
The primary aromatic amines are a family of compounds, some of which are classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as «possibly carcinogenic to humans» and their presence in food should be avoided.
In recent years, there was anxiety in the EU member states concerning received data for migration of primary aromatic amines from polyamide kitchenware imported from third countries. Regulation (EU) № 284/2011 lays down specific conditions and detailed procedures for the import of those articles and establishes maximum residue limits for specific migration of PAA. This article published a validated screening spectrometric method for the determination of total primary aromatic amines represented as aniline equivalent, which satisfies the requirements of Regulation 284/2011. The method is based on the diazotization of primary aromatic amines with sodium nitrite in acidic medium and subsequent neutralization of residual nitrosating agent with ammonium sulfamate. Nitro derivatives were coupled with N- (1-naphthyl) ethylenediamine dihydrochloride to yield violet colored complex, which was then concentrated by solid phase extraction. The measured absorbance at a wavelength of 550 nm is proportional to the total content of primary aromatic amines, expressed as aniline equivalents. The limit of detection LOD is 0.001 mg/kg, expressed as aniline; the limit of quantification LOQ is 0.002 mg/kg, expressed as aniline; the working range of the method is between 0.002 and 0.04 mg/kg, expressed as aniline.
This method is applied for exploring the migration of primary aromatic amines from polyamide kitchen utensils available on the Bulgarian market. The obtained data do not show a potential risk for consumers from the migration of these substances from polyamide articles when the items are labeled with information about the origin, type of material, conditions of use and are used according to the label instructions. Items without marking and labeling, as well as those labeled with a non-useful information, for example, „made from harmless plastic” are not the subject of this study. the wide spread of such items requires caution regarding their safety for consumers.

Chemicals can migrate from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) drink bottles to their content and recycling processes may concentrate or introduce new chemicals to the PET value chain. Therefore, even though recycling PET bottles is key in reducing plastic pollution, it may raise concerns about safety and quality. This study provides a
systematic evidence map of the food contact chemicals (FCCs) that migrate from PET drink bottles aiming to identify challenges in closing the plastic packaging loop. The migration potential of 193 FCCs has been investigated across the PET drink bottles lifecycle, of which 150 have been detected to migrate from PET bottles into food simulants/food samples. The study reveals that much research has focused on the migration of antimony (Sb), acetaldehyde and some well-known endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). It indicates and discusses the key influential factors on FCCs migration, such as physical characteristics and geographical origin of PET bottles, storage conditions, and reprocessing efficiency . Although, safety and quality implications arising from the recycling of PET bottles remain underexplored, the higher migration of Sb and Bishphenol A has been reported in recycled (rPET) compared to virgin PET. This is attributed to multiple contamination sources and the variability in the collection, sorting, and decontamination efficiency. Better collaboration among stakeholders across the entire PET bottles lifecycle is needed to ensure sustainable resource management and food contact safety of rPET.

El conocimiento de la composición química y la evaluación del comportamiento de las sustancias en relación a su uso en artículos de material plástico de uso repetido son fundamentales para poder establecer con total seguridad la inocuidad de los objetos destinados a entrar en contacto con los alimentos.

The knowledge of the chemical composition and the evaluation of the behaviour of the substances according to the use in the articles of plastic intended for repeated use are the keys to determine the safety of the articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs

In terms of food security, surveys conducted by the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Land and Resources between 2005 and 2013 found that 20 percent of arable land was unfit for food production because of serious contamination by heavy metals.

Abstract The EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes and Processing Aids (CEP) assessed the safety of the recycling process Novapet (EU register number RECYC208), which uses the Protec technology. The input is hot caustic washed and dried poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) flakes mainly originating from collected post‐consumer PET containers, with no more than 5% PET from non‐food consumer applications. The flakes are extruded into pellets, crystallised and treated in a solid‐state polycondensation (SSP) reactor. Having examined the challenge test provided, the Panel concluded that the SSP (step 4) is critical in determining the decontamination efficiency of the process. The operating parameters to control the performance of this critical step are temperature, pressure and residence time. It was demonstrated that this recycling process is able to ensure that the level of migration of potential unknown contaminants into food is below the conservatively modelled migration of 0.1 μg/kg food. Therefore, the Panel concluded that the recycled PET obtained from this process is not of safety concern, when used at up to 100% for the manufacture of materials and articles for contact with all types of foodstuffs for long‐term storage at room temperature, with or without hotfill. The final articles made of this recycled PET are not intended to be used in microwave or conventional ovens and such uses are not covered by this evaluation.