Study on migration of hydrocarbon contaminants from food contact materials in food

Food packaging is a rapidly evolving field. Packaging keep food safe and retains its nutritional properties and sensory characteristics; furthermore, it provides additional features that are important for consumers. Packaging system, as well as other food contact materials (FCM) such as adhesives and printing inks, are the main sources of chemicals in food products and beverages. Human exposure to chemicals from food contact materials may occur as a result of migration, a mass transfer phenomenon resulting from a tendency to balance all chemical potential within a system from the packaging into foodstuff. There are several parameters affecting migration, which are related to food, to packaging and to chemicals that are involved. The food packaging legislation establishes an overall migration limit (OML), which measures the inertness of the materials and that regards all chemicals in a packaging, and a specific migration limit (SML) for specific substances that may be dangerous for human health. An important tool to evaluate the compliance of FCM with the limits are the migration tests. Food simulants as well as temperature, time and contact conditions for migration testing are regulated for plastic materials, but not for paperboard material, so that contact condition are derived at least partially from plastic legislation. A very important class of contaminants involved in migration from packaging into food are hydrocarbons, in particular mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOHs) consisting of MOSH (mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons) and MOAH (mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The MOSH fraction may include polyolefin oligomeric saturated hydrocarbons (POSH), oligomers of polyolefin, which can migrate from plastic bags, heat-sealable layers and other laminates as well as adhesives and plasticizers. Different studies have demonstrated that MOHs, POSH and PAHs migrate from packaging into food and contaminate it with negative effects for human health. In the first part of this ...