Scientifically addressing the main challenges in the safety and quality of food contact materials
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
| Charlène Lacourt - Chair | Danone Nutricia Research | Toxicologist-Risk Assessor | FR |
| Christina Nerin - Vice Chair | University of Zaragoza | Full Professor | ES |
| Sami Hamdi | Mondelēz International | Senior Associate Principal Scientist | UK |
| Sigrid Gerold | Mayr-Melnhof Karton | Food Contact Specialist | AT |
| Bastian Knaup | Tetra Pak | Manager Advanced Analytics and Chemical Safety | DE |
| Thomas Gude | ETH Zurich | Lecturer in Food Safety and Analysis | CH |
| Susanne Kunda | Südzucker Group | Manager Product Safety | DE |
| Peter Oldring | Sherwin Williams | Regulatory Affairs Director | UK |
| Tina Richter | Swiss Quality testing Services | Laboratory Manager Food Contact Materials | CH |
| Laurence Gijs | Dow Europe | EHS&S Regulatory Compliance Manager | DE |
| Biljana Dimcic | AbInBev | SRA Manager | BE |
| Si Wang | PepsiCo International | Senior Scientist in Scientific Affairs | UK |
| Christian Kirchnawy | OFI (Austrian Research Institute for Chemistry and Technology) | Team Leader | AT |
| Marinella Vitulli | Food Contact Center | Director | IT |
| Luca La Gamba | Soremartec | Food Safety & Product Integrity Packaging Senior Manager | IT |
* Scientific Advisors
Contact Information
For more detailed information, please contact Konrad Korzeniowski at kkorzeniowski@ilsieurope.be
Activity Overview
Ongoing
- Safety assessment of recycling processes for polyolefins (PO) and polystyrene (PS).
The Task Force is organising a workshop to determine the most appropriate evaluation criteria for the safety of these materials. These requirements would help ensure all the potential safety risks are taken into account and controlled with a holistic approach from feedstock to final articles reaching the consumer in compliance with the high standards of safety expected by EFSA.
Workshop date: 21-22 Oct 2025
In the pipeline
- International Symposium on Food Packaging
The flagship event of the Packaging Materials Task Force. The next edition is planned for Spring 2028.
- Recyclability of plastic packaging
An activity developed on the outcomes of the workshop of Oct 2025.
- Functional barriers safety, risk assessment and management
Expert Groups
Coming soon...
International Symposium on Food Packaging
About the event
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.
Previous editions
Curious about the journey so far? Explore the highlights, programmes, and key takeaways from our previous editions below.
Publications
All Publications
Review of potential areas for global harmonization of risk assessment protocols for Food Contact Materials (FCMs)
Trends in Food Science & Technology, 2025
Criteria for risk assessment in FDA, EU, Mercosur, India, China, Japan and Thailand are reviewed. Hazard identification and characterization are discussed. Exposure assessment and risk characterization are discussed. Experimental data required for risk assessment are described. Areas closer to risk assessment harmonization are highlighted.
An Overview of Approaches for Analysing NIAS from different FCMs
ILSI Europe Report Series , 2023
This overview gives an excellent introduction to analysing NIAS. It considers non-harmonised FCMs, highlighting various FCMs and their unique requirements for analysis of migrants (IAS (Intentionally Added Substances) or NIAS). It presents background information on different test conditions for the different FCMs and why the standard tests used for plastics outlined in the Commission Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 (14 January 2011 on plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food) are inappropriate in some instances for many non-harmonised FCMs.
Guidance in selecting analytical techniques for identification and quantification of non-intentionally added substances (NIAS) in food contact materials (FCMS)
2022
Food Additives and Contaminants: Part A. 2022. Commissioned by the Packaging Materials Task Force.
Mineral oil risk assessment: Knowledge gaps and roadmap. Outcome of a multi-stakeholders workshop
Trends in Food Science & Technology, 2021
Commissioned by the Process-Related Compounds & Natural Toxins and the Packaging Materials Task Forces.
Value and limitation of in vitro bioassays to support the application of the threshold of toxicological concern to prioritise unidentified chemicals in food contact materials
2019
Food Additives and Contaminants: Part A. 2019. Commissioned by the Packaging Materials Task Force.
- 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.
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 BackgroundIn 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 8To 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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Food Contact Materials (FCMs) are produced and marketed worldwide global value in excess of 400.20 billion dollars. All FCMs have to be safe and guarantee the safety and security of food in contact with them. Specific regulations, which establish the rules for all materials, exist in different regions, which implies that the same material has to comply with different limits depending on the region in which it is distributed and marketed. This paper reviews differences and similarities between the FDA, EU, MERCOSUR, India, China, Japan and Thailand. Various areas essential for a risk assessment are compared. Requirements for testing substances or materials is an area where there are divergencies or commonalities. Harmonization of regulations and procedures is needed, as humans are the same, independently of where they live, and the substances released by the FCMs are the same. The same protocols and procedures are not applied worldwide, but the results are essential for the risk assessment of FCMs. Examining the approaches of different regions showed that there is room for harmonization in many areas, to obtain a more harmonized risk assessment and facilitate subsequent risk management. This review establishes the main areas of risk assessment of FCMs, compares the main regulations in different regions and discusses the essential areas that influence their global risk assessment and provides a guide to help to the development of the relevant research field and industry. Some examples and proposals for the main areas for harmonising risk assessment globally, are given.
Read the full paperThis work was commissionned by the Packaging Materials Task Force
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