Roles and Applications of in Vitro Bioassays in Safety Evaluation of Food Contact Materials

Background & Objectives

There is an urgent need to better understand the actual safety significance of food contact materials (FCM) as a source of chemical exposure in humans. In vitro bioassays may play a role in the assessment of complex mixtures of chemicals migrating from FCM.

The objective of the activity is to review the roles, availability and suitability of in vitro bioassays for safety assessment of FCM.

Output

The outputs of this activity were reviewed at a workshop held on 8-9 November 2018 in Brussels, BE, to discuss the most relevant bioassays, their limitations and relevance in the context of packaging safety. This output will allow us to develop and publish a transparent guidance document on the use of in vitro data in packaging safety assessment.


Prof. Wolfgang Dekant – Chair	University of Würzburg	DE
Dr Benoit Schilter – Vice-Chair	Nestlé	CH
Prof. Alan Boobis	Imperial College London	UK
Dr Karin Burnett	Consultant in Toxicology	UK
Dr Chantra Eskes	Swiss Competence Centre on 3Rs	NL
Ms Mélanie Jacquet	Danone	FR
Dr Christian Kirchnawy	Austrian Institute for Chemistry and Food Technology (OFI)	AT
Dr Peter Oldring	The Valspar Corporation	UK
Dr Gabriele Pieper	Tetra Pak	DE
Dr Manfred Tacker	University of Applied Sciences (FH Campus Vienna)	AT
Dr Heinz Traussnig	Mayr-Melnhof Karton	AT
Mr Peter van Herwijnen	Dow Europe	DE
Dr Lucie Geurts	ILSI Europe	BE