Chemical Contaminants from Food Contact Materials and Articles - Research Programme (A03)

This internationally recognised research helps the Agency to assess what action needs to be taken to protect consumers as a result of the migration of chemicals from packaging, cookware and other materials and articles that are intended to come into contact with foodstuffs. This helps the Agency to achieve its objectives by ensuring that:

• any chemicals migrating into food do not compromise food safety
• effective controls are in place and are being enforced
• information about all of this work is openly available

New research planned for FY 2006/2007 includes work on:

• an investigation of packaged food intake by groups such as the elderly, single-parent households, or ethnic minorities
• a literature review, analytical screening and chemical migration studies on irradiated food packaging and foodstuffs.
• an investigation into whether the presence of plastics' additives, such as slip and anti-static agents, affects the migration of substances associated with colourants used in food contact plastics
• developing a quantitative method to determine the fat content of foodstuffs, the nature of its dispersion and the allocation of appropriate reduction factors for compliance testing or enforcement

The results of such research work improve consumer protection, for example in reviewing and developing European Union controls. This programme also:

• provides methods to help identify and measure chemicals migrating from food contact materials
• increases knowledge about where there might be problems with chemical migration
• checks how well controls on food packaging are being observed in the UK

The purpose of this research programme is to ensure that chemical migration from food contact materials and articles into foodstuffs does not endanger health. As well as providing information and practical methods to help the Agency meet its consumer safety objectives, this programme helps to provide a sound scientific basis for UK input to negotiations in Europe. The programme includes the quantification of chemical migration and the development of appropriate methods of analysis, as well as more fundamental work to understand the factors affecting chemical migration.

This work helps the Food Contact Materials Unit in the Food Standards Agency to:

• develop policy and set standards through negotiations in Europe on food contact materials
• respond effectively to requests for advice and information

The Working Party on Materials and Articles in Contact with Food or Drink helps to ensure that work in this programme relates to current practice in industry and elsewhere. The activities of the working party are structured around two meetings a year, in the spring and autumn. The spring meeting reviews research projects in progress, while the one in the autumn considers future research.

Careful planning allows research to contribute to the discussions in Europe about legislation. EU and UK law on food contact materials and articles requires industry to ensure that food is safe and wholesome. It does this for contact materials and articles by requiring that their use does not lead to transfer of their constituents into food so as to endanger health or affect food quality. Food contact materials and articles include food packaging, cookware, cutlery, tableware, work surfaces, and food processing machinery and equipment. The materials and articles are in their finished state, which may include, for example, printing inks and adhesive labels. Specific EU Directives are now in place for plastics, ceramics and regenerated cellulose film in contact with food.

The wide-ranging nature of this particular research programme reflects the many different types of food contact materials and articles. Projects vary from investigating specific chemical migrants from materials and articles to the development of appropriate test protocols. As well as making a major contribution to consumer protection this research programme helps to lower trade barriers by contributing to the harmonisation of EU controls.

Recently-commissioned work includes a project on nanotechnology (A03063). This technology is used for the manufacture of materials with small particles up to 100 nanometres (a billionth of a metre). This research project will gather and review information on new and potential applications of nanomaterials in the UK for use in contact with food or drink. Both consumer safety and regulatory implications will be considered. Experimental work will be conducted to determine the potential migration of nanoparticles from selected materials. Laboratory work will also be undertaken to determine if the incorporation of nanocomponents has any significant effect on the migration of other substances. It is anticipated that a workshop will be held to inform regulators, industry, academia and R&D stakeholders of the findings of the project and discuss the main issues that may be highlighted by it.

A previously published Food Standards Agency-funded project (A03047) developed and validated a method to determine the presence of a mixture of substances, generally referred to as nonylphenols, in a range of different materials used in contact with food. Additional work has now been commissioned (A03057) to further validate this method and use it to consider the variation in occurrence and concentration of nonylphenol in selected food contact materials, taking into account methods of manufacture. Levels found will be carefully evaluated to determine the relative contribution of migration, if any, compared to nonylphenol occurrence from other sources, such as the environment.

A project is also underway on active and intelligent packaging (A03062). Active packaging is intended to influence the packed food. It is intended to change the condition of the packed food, to extend shelf-life or improve sensory properties while maintaining the freshness and the quality of the food. In intelligent packaging the food is intended to influence the packaging, for example, monitoring the time-temperature storage history of the packed food. The Food Standards Agency has already funded a desk-based study on UK trends in active and intelligent packaging (project A03039). In this new research project the overall and specific migration of substances related to active/intelligent packaging will be determined. Additionally the effectiveness of active/intelligent materials such as oxygen absorbers and ethylene scavengers will be assessed.

Research already in progress includes:

• Monomers (A03063). This research aims to investigate the variation of monomer and other chemical migrant levels in different samples of food grade plastics. By collaboration with industry, processing conditions that may effect the concentration of these substances in food contact articles will be identified. The samples will originate from different companies, different product streams and different batches. The concentration of monomers in samples will be determined using a headspace gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric method. The effect of storage of the samples on monomer levels will also be investigated.
• Reaction and breakdown products (A03054). This project aims to provide information on reaction and breakdown products from the starting substances that are used to make plastic food contact materials. Such substances are currently outside EU-wide specific controls and their identity is in many cases unknown. Plastics made using current formulations and processing conditions will be extracted using solvents and the extracts tested for the predicted breakdown products. The analysis will also search for any unpredicted substances. Using a variety of techniques a mass spectral database will be developed for these substances. This should provide valuable information on the principles and practicalities of assessing this type of product and help guide the development of policy for 'non-listed' or non-intentionally added substances (NIAS).
• Latex transfer (A03056). This research project builds on a previous Agency-funded project (A03043). Results from this first project indicated that further technical work was required to develop a reliable and robust validated enzyme linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) for the quantitative recovery of latex allergens, especially Hev b1 and Hev b3. In this new project the modified ELISA protocol will be re-established in the laboratory and used to measure allergen levels in representative batches of cold seal adhesive and bakery release films. The new extraction and ELISA protocol will be validated and used to provide data to demonstrate the suitability of the method for quantification of latex allergens in selected foods. The method will then be used by a second laboratory before being applied to industrial samples.
• Primary aromatic amines (A03060). Primary aromatic amines (PAAs) may arise in materials intended for food contact as a result of the presence of impurities or breakdown products from aromatic isocyanates used to make polyurethanes or colourants prepared by diazo-coupling. This project will develop and validate a HPLC-MS-MS method for the analysis of individual primary aromatic amines. The validated method will be applied to laminated packaging, in particular that used in packs with a high packaging area:food mass ratio (e.g. small sachets containing vinegar or tomato sauce). It will also be applied to coloured food contact articles.

Research reports published in 2006 can be found in the related links at the bottom of this page.

Name: Mr Edward Potter
Tel: 020 7276 8550
Email: edward.potter@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk