Packaging Materials

Packaging Materials

Scientifically addressing the main challenges in the safety and quality of food contact materials

Task Force Information

Objectives and list of Task Force
members

Contact Information

Contact details in case you have specific questions

Activity Overview

Overview of ongoing and
upcoming activities

Expert Groups

Objectives, output and list of experts involved in each activity

Publications

List of publications of this
Task Force

Multimedia

Links to Task Force related documents, recordings and much more...

Completed Expert Groups

Details including experts involved of
each activity

Task Force Information

Objectives

For more than 30 years, the Task Force has strived to understand the challenges to ensure safe food contact materials for food consumption by:

  • Evaluating food contact materials safety and their interactions with food to ensure consumers’ safety at minimal environmental impact.
  • Addressing recent improvements in food production and distribution, leading to an increased sophistication of food packaging.

Task Force Members

WP DataTables

* Scientific Advisors

Contact Information

For more detailed information, please contact Konrad Korzeniowski at kkorzeniowski@ilsieurope.be

Activity Overview

Ongoing

- Harmonised Approaches for Risk Assessment and Management of Food Contact Materials and Articles

An Expert Group will review existing approaches for risk assessment and management of Food Contac Materials (IAS and NIAS) and identify similarities and differences between materials categories (e.g. plastics vs paper or metals) and geographic areas (e.g. EU, US, China, etc.) before recommending the most appropriate approaches to use, particularly for non harmonised food contact materials.

Start: Apr 2024 - End: Sep 2025

8th-International-Symposium-on-Food-Packaging

- 8th International Symposium on Food Packaging

Save the date for 1-4 April 2025!

ILSI Europe International Symposium on Food Packaging is held every four years. It is internationally recognised as a scientific forum to discuss and move forward the science that supports safety and innovation in the field, with minimal environmental impact. This conference of experts facilitates transfer of knowledge and brings innovative solutions to the most pressing issues in this field.

Registrations are now open! Programme is out!

In the pipeline

- Sustainable Packaging

More information to come soon!

 

Expert Groups

Harmonised Approaches for Risk Assessment and Management of Food Contact Materials and Articles

Background and Objectives

The Expert Group is reviewing existing approaches for risk assessment and management of Food Contact Materials (FDMs): intentionally added substances (IAS), non-intentionally added substances (NIAS) and Not Listed Substance (NLS). They will identify similarities and differences between materials categories and geographic areas (EU, US, China, etc.) before recommending the most appropriate approaches to use. They will consider the EU Chemicals Strategy and the ONE HEALTH approach as well as the role of science for regulatory purposes for management of Food Safety.

Output

The resulting publication will complement other ILSI publications concerning FCMs, including Koster et al (2015), Nerin et al (2022) and Schilter et al. The outputs of these previous activities are used in the risk assessment of FCMs.

Expert Group Members

WP DataTables

Publications

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		Packaging Materials Task Force
		
	



		
		SMART PACKAGING
		
	

	
There are numerous approaches and methodologies for assessing the identity and quantities of non-intentionally added substances (NIAS) in food contact materials (FCMs). They can give different results and it can be difficult to make meaningful comparisons. The initial approach was to attempt to prepare a prescriptive methodology but as this proved impossible; this paper develops guidelines that need to be taken into consideration when assessing NIAS. Different approaches to analysing NIAS in FCMs are reviewed and compared. The approaches for preparing the sample for analysis, recommended procedures for screening, identification, and quantification of NIAS as well as the reporting requirements are outlined. Different analytical equipment and procedures are compared. Limitations of today's capabilities are raised along with some research needs.

	
Link to download the full-text

			Keywords
							Expand
		
Food contact materials; NIAS; chromatographic methods; food packaging; migration; non-intentionally added substances; plastics



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		Process-Related Compounds and Natural Toxins Task Force
		
	



		FOOD RELATED CONTAMINANTS
	

	
Mineral Oil Hydrocarbons may unintentionally contaminate food through different routes across food chains and the lifecycle of food contact materials.


Gaps in the knowledge about mineral oil hydrocarbons (MON) still exist despite the recent advances in the research field.


A workshop to identify those gaps was organized by the European Branch of the International Life Science Institute.


Some of these were identified to be:


    

  • the lack of validated and standardized analytical methods for relevant food matrices, and
    • 

  • gaps in assessing the risk for consumers' health.
    • 



The consensus is that the lack of standardized, validated analytical methods able to assure good inter-laboratory reproducibility is the main gap underlining most of the existing difficulties to understand MOH.


In order to conduct adequate substance identification and quantification for input into risk assessment, the need for confirmatory methods that provide a detailed characterization of the unresolved complex mixtures needs to be solved.


The limited number of surveys covering a wide range of foods and enough samples to detect major sources of contamination other than packaging in paperboard also hinders reliable exposure estimation.

				Fig. 4. Decision tree to identify auxilary methods. Adapted from Bratinova & Hoekstra, 2019. ALOX: Al2O3.


		Decision tree to identify auxilary methods. (Adapted from Bratinova & Hoekstra, 2019)
	

			
 Industry sectors represented in the workshop
 
  • Food & Drink
  • Mineral Oil/Waxes
  • Testing Laboratories
  • Analytical Instruments
  • Food Contact Materials
  • Cosmetics
  • Petroleum
		
	
Read the full-text article here

			Scientific abstract 
							Expand
		Background

In recent years there have been significant advancements in the understanding of mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOH) in foods and their potential risk to health. However, important gaps in knowledge remain, such as the lack of validated and standardized analytical methods for relevant food matrices and gaps in assessing the risk for consumers' health.
Scope & approach

A workshop was organized by the European Branch of the International Life Science Institute to identify knowledge gaps in analytical methods, assessment of exposure, hazard characterisation, and risk assessment of MOH. This work captures the outcome of the workshop and builds upon it by combining the perspectives of the participants with an updated review of the literature to provide a roadmap for future management of the topic.
Key findings and conclusions

Most participants to the workshop agreed that the key issue underlying many of the knowledge gaps in the field of MOH risk analysis and management is the lack of standardized, validated analytical methods able to assure good inter-laboratory reproducibility and to enable understanding of MOH occurrence in foods. It has been demonstrated that method EN 16995 used for MOH determination in vegetable oils and fats is not reliable below 10 mg/kg of food. There is also a need for confirmatory methods that provide a detailed characterization of the unresolved complex mixture observed from one-dimensional chromatographic methods. This is required to enable adequate substance identification and quantification for input into risk assessment. A major gap in the exposure estimation is the limited number of surveys covering a wide range of foods and enough samples to detect major sources of contamination other than packaging in paperboard. Data on concentration of MOH fractions in human body needed to determine internal exposure estimates is scarce. Data relating concentration in tissues with personal data, lifestyle, food intake and the use of cosmetics are needed to clarify the complex system of distribution of MOSH in the body and to possibly establish relationship between external and internal exposure. Additional toxicological studies to better characterize the hazards of relevant MOH are required for a better human health risk assessment.
			Keywords
							Expand
		
Mineral oil hydrocarbon, Risk assessment, Exposure assessment, Food contaminant, MOSH, MOAH

					Number of participants in the workshop
		61
					from Academica, Public organisations, and Industry.
					EN 16995 used for MOH determination in vegetable oils and fats is not reliable below
		10
					mg/kg of food.
					Main indetified gaps in the knowledge of Mineral Oil Hydrocarbons
		8
	
To enable human risk assessment, the performance of toxicological studies on the relevant MOH mixtures and possibly their components is required.

	
This work was conducted in collaboration with the Packaging Materials Task Force.



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		Packaging Materials Task Force
		
	



		
		SMART PACKAGING
		
	

	
There are numerous approaches and methodologies for assessing the identity and quantities of non-intentionally added substances (NIAS) in food contact materials (FCMs). They can give different results and it can be difficult to make meaningful comparisons. The initial approach was to attempt to prepare a prescriptive methodology but as this proved impossible; this paper develops guidelines that need to be taken into consideration when assessing NIAS. Different approaches to analysing NIAS in FCMs are reviewed and compared. The approaches for preparing the sample for analysis, recommended procedures for screening, identification, and quantification of NIAS as well as the reporting requirements are outlined. Different analytical equipment and procedures are compared. Limitations of today's capabilities are raised along with some research needs.

	
Link to download the full-text

			Keywords
							Expand
		
Food contact materials; NIAS; chromatographic methods; food packaging; migration; non-intentionally added substances; plastics



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Multimedia

One-Pager

Completed Expert Groups

Overview of completed activities

- 7th International Symposium on Food Packaging

- Mineral Oil Risk Assessment: Knowledge Gaps and Roadmap (collaboration with Food Contaminants Task Force)

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