ILSI / Packaging Materials

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

Background

European citizens discard on average 170 kg of packaging per person every year, more than two thirds come from food. It is therefore important to find a good balance between the benefits of packaging in terms of food protection and its impact on the environment.

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.

Impact

Since 2000, the Task Force has published a series of guidance documents on packaging materials recognised and used by industries and universities.
In June 2020, the Task Force organised the first web-seminar “Food Packaging: is it just for protection or there is more to it?” to discuss the balance between functionality, convenience and sustainability of food packaging. More than 100 participants joined the web-seminar, including 30 representatives of public authorities and agencies.

Moreover, on December 7th we had a web-seminar on “Food Contact Materials in Circular Economy”. By 2030, the European Commission will propose measures to ensure that all packaging in the EU is reusable or recyclable. To achieve this target, the EC has adopted a new action plan, the Circular Economy Action Plan promoting circular economy processes and driving design for re-use and recyclability of packaging (European Commission, 2020). In the context of food packaging, this calls not only for new designs for recyclability and re-usability but also for new methods to assess the chemical safety of recycled food contact materials. In addition, this transition will also bring its share of challenges for bodies controlling those materials and ensuring they are indeed sustainable and safe. During the web-seminar, those three aspects were discussed in the light of emerging research. Watch it online:

Webinar 7 December 2020 – Food Contact Materials in Circular Economy

For more detailed information, please contact Dr Simeon Bourdoux at sbourdoux@ilsieurope.be at or Adam Coventry at acoventry@ilsieurope.be

Task Force Members


Dr Thomas Gude – Vice-Chair	Swiss Quality Testing Services – SQTS	Deputy Head	CH
Prof. Thomas Simat – Co-Chair	Technical University of Dresden	Professor	DE
Mr Sami Hamdi	Mondelēz International	Senior Associate Principal Scientist	UK
Dr Melanie Jacquet	Danone	Food Contact Materials Food Safety Scientist	FR
Dr Christina Northfleet	Omya International	Head of Group Regulatory Affairs	CH
Dr Peter OIdring	Sherwin Williams	Regulatory Affairs Manager	UK
Dr Gabriele Pieper	Tetra Pak	Managing Director	DE
Ms Susanne Rueckert	Südzucker Group	Manager Product Safety	DE
Dr Ute Stemmer-Letnik	Mayr-Melnhof Karton	Product Safety & Environmental Affairs	AT
Mr Charles Turner	PPG Industries	Global Technical Director Packaging Coatings	UK
Ms Annemiek van den Broek	Herbalife	Senior Technologist, Technical and Packaging	NL
Mr Peter van Herwijnen	Dow Europe	Regulatory Affairs Manager	DE
Dr Si Wang	PepsiCo International	Senior Scientist in Scientific Affairs	UK
Dr Siméon Bourdoux	ILSI Europe	Scientific Project Manager	BE

* Scientific Advisors

Expert Groups

Best Practices for Identifying and Quantifying Unknown Migrants from Food Contact Materials (FCMs)

Background & Objectives
The NIAS (Non-Intentionally Added Substances) are present in all Food Contact Materials. However, there is no common methodology on how to perform the sample preparation, analysis, or on how to identify and more importantly quantify the migrants.
This activity aims to provide best practices to identify and quantify unknown migrants from FCMs, with widely differing characteristics and applicable to any type of single use FCM. The objective is to determine whether a set of basic golden rules could align procedures.

Output
This activity will result in a recommendation document that will determine potential best practices to align methods available for untargeted screening and future testing.
To develop it, the draft will be discussed at an international workshop organised back-to-back with the 7^th International Packaging Symposium.

Mineral Oil Risk Assessment: Knowledge Gaps and Roadmap
In collaboration with the Process-Related Compounds and Natural Toxins Task Force

7^th International Symposium on Food Packaging
Due to COVID19 pandemic, the symposium had to be postponed to 2022. Specific dates to be determined.

Background & Objectives
The 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. The proceedings of these symposia are published in Food Additives and Contaminants: Part A.

Output
The 7^th International Symposium on Food Packaging will be held on 2022 in Barcelona, Spain.

This three-day conference will be structured around 4 main themes:
1. Advances in analytical techniques;
2. Progress in toxicological prediction and assessment;
3. Progress in risk assessment;
4. Food Contact Materials in circular economy.

Expert Group Members

Best Practices for Identifying and Quantifying Unknown Migrants from Food Contact Materials (FCMs)


Dr Peter Oldring - Chair	The Valspar Corporation	Regulatory Affairs Manager	UK
Prof. Cristina Nerín – Vice-Chair	University of Zaragoza	Professor	ES
Dr Birgit Faust	Dow Chemicals	Analytical Specialist	DE
Dr Thomas Gude	SQTS	Deputy Head	CH
Ms Céline Lesueur	Danone	Food Safety and Analytical Governance Manager	FR
Prof. Thomas Simat	Technical University Dresden	Professor	DE
Dr Angela Stoermer	Fraunhofer IVV	Senior Scientist	DE
Dr Els Van Hoeck	Sciensano	Head Of Unit - Consumer Safety	BE
Dr Siméon Bourdoux	ILSI Europe	Scientific Project Manager	BE

7^th International Symposium on Food Packaging
Due to COVID19 pandemic, the symposium had to be postponed to 2022. Specific dates to be determined.

Organising Committee Members


Prof. Cristina Nerin – Vice-Chair	University of Zaragoza	Professor	ES
Dr Emma Bradley	FERA Science	Head of Food Quality and Safety	UK
Dr Nathalie Gontard	National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA)	Analytical Specialist	FR
Dr Thomas Gude	SQTS	Deputy Head	CH
Dr Christina Northfleet	Omya International	Food Safety and Analytical Governance Manager	CH
Dr Peter Oldring	The Valspar Corporation	Regulatory Affairs Manager	UK
Mr Peter van Herwijnen	Dow Deutschland Vertrieb	Regulatory Affairs Manager	DE
Dr Si Wang	PepsiCo International	Senior Scientist in Scientific Affairs	UK
Dr Lucie Geurts	ILSI Europe	Scientific Project Manager	BE

Scientific Committee Members


Prof. Alejandro Ariosti	National Institute of Industrial Technology (INTI)	Technical Assistant Food Packaging	AR
Dr Tim Begley	US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)	Director Division of Analytical Chemistry	US
Dr Emma Bradley	FERA Science	Head of Food Quality and Safety	UK
Prof. Nathalie Gontard	National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA)	Research Director	FR
Dr David Kirkland	Kirkland Consulting	Toxicologist	UK
Dr Roger Meuwly	Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO)	Scientific Collaborator	CH
Prof. Cristina Nerín	University of Zaragoza	Professor	ES
Prof. Peter Ragaert	University of Ghent	Professor	BE
Prof. Thomas Simat	Technical University of Dresden	Professor	DE
Prof. Peter Simon	Slovak University of Technology	Professor	SK
Dr Frank Welle	Fraunhofer Institute (IVV)	Development Manager Packaging	DE
Prof. Selçuk Yildirim	Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW)	Head of Center of Technology and Packaging	CH
Dr Marco Zhong	National Reference Laboratory for Food Contact Material - IQTC	Laboratory Director	CN

Publications

Filter

A to Z

Outlook and Challenges of Nanotechnologies for Food Packaging

2016

ILSI Europe

Packaging Technology and Science. 2016;29(12): 615-648. Commissioned by the Packaging Materials Task Force.

Packaging Materials 1: Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) for Food Packaging Applications

2000

ILSI Europe

ILSI Europe Report Series.

Packaging Materials 1: Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) for Food Packaging Applications. Updated version

2017

ILSI Europe

ILSI Europe Report Series. 2017:1-24. Commissioned by the Packaging Materials Task Force.

Packaging Materials 10: Adhesives for Food Packaging Applications

2018

ILSI Europe

ILSI Europe Report Series. 2018:1-37. Commissioned by the Packaging Materials Task Force.

Packaging Materials 2: Polystyrene for Food Packaging Applications

2002

ILSI Europe