Food Contamination by Packaging

Migration of Chemicals from Food Contact Materials

Ana Rodríguez Bernaldo de Quirós, Antía Lestido Cardama, Raquel Sendón, Verónica García Ibarra

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9783110644876
• eBook ISBN:
  9783110645026
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Chemistry
• Index: Chemistry

The migration of substances from packaging to food is a matter of concern for the food safety authorities, and packaging materials constitute a potential source of contaminants to which the consumer will be exposed to through their diet. A huge variety of substances can be present in packaging materials, which could consequently migrate into food and represent a risk to consumer health. Food Contamination by Packaging provides an overview of the main packaging contaminants including Bisphenol A, melamine, phthalates, alternative plasticisers, photoinitiators, perfluorochemicals, saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons (mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons and mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons) from mineral oils, other bisphenol-related compounds, nanoparticles, primary aromatic amines and nonintentionally added substances. The analytical techniques used for their determination are reviewed. This book will be of interest to students and researchers in universities and research institutions associated with food packaging and, in general, to the food safety sector.

1 Introduction

Packaging plays an essential role protecting food from chemical contamination and microbial spoilage [1, 2, 3]. However, from a food safety point of view, the main concern associated with packaging is the chemical migration of harmful substances from the packaging into the food, which could constitute a risk to consumer health [1]. Migration is a mass transfer phenomenon where the substance transferred from the packaging to the foodstuff is called the migrant. This process obeys Fick’s laws of diffusion and depends upon several factors including: type of material, nature of food, physico-chemical properties of migrant, time and temperature of contact and so on [1, 4, 5, 6]. The key parameters of the migration process are the diffusion and partition coefficients. The partition coefficient (K_P/F) represents the relative solubility of the migrant between the polymer and the food once equilibrium is reached. Hence, values of K_P/F > 1 indicate that the concentration of the migrant is greater in the polymer than in the food. On the other hand, the diffusion coefficient describes the kinetics of the migration [7, 8, 9].

Special attention has been paid to low molecular weight substances since it is generally accepted that high molecular weight compounds (> 1,000 Da) are not absorbed through the gastrointestinal tract [10]. In addition, chemical migration can also negatively affect the quality of the packed food and modify the organoleptic properties [1].

The experimental determination of migration is laborious, time-consuming and expensive due mainly to the complex chemical composition of food and the low concentrations of migrants detected in the foodstuffs. In order to avoid these analytical difficulties, different tools for the theoretical prediction of migration have been developed [4].

To guarantee a high level of health protection, the safety of food contact materials (FCM) should be subject to regulatory control. In this context, the Commission of the European Communities has issued regulations concerning the materials intended to be in contact with food. The Framework Regulation (EC) 1935/2004 [11] is applied to all materials and articles intended to come into contact with food. Article 3 of this regulation establishes the general requirements:

1. “Materials and articles, including active and intelligent materials and articles, shall be manufactured in compliance with good manufacturing practice so that, under normal or foreseeable conditions of use, they do not transfer their constituents to food in quantities which could: (a) endanger human health, (b) bring about an unacceptable change in the composition of the food or (c) bring about a deterioration of the organoleptic characteristics thereof.
2. The labelling, advertising and presentation of a material or article shall not mislead consumers.”

Annex I of this regulation lists the groups of materials and articles that may be covered by specific measures including: active and intelligent materials and articles, adhesives, ceramics, cork, rubbers, glass, ion-exchange resins, metals and alloys, paper and board, plastics, printing inks, regenerated cellulose, silicones, textiles, varnishes and coatings, waxes and wood.

Plastics are one of the most widely used materials by the food packaging industry. Commission Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 [12] on plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food includes the European positive list of monomers, additives and other starting substances authorised in the manufacture of plastic FCM, as well as their restrictions, for example, the specific migration limit, and so on.

A huge variety of substances could potentially be present in packaging materials and consequently can migrate into food. Different analytical techniques, particularly chromatography, both liquid and gas coupled to mass spectrometry, for the determination of migrants have been successfully applied. At present, the development of analytical methods for the identification of nonintentionally added substances (NIAS) constitutes one of the current challenges in food packaging research [13, 14, 15].

In this book, the main packaging contaminants including: phthalates and plasticisers, photoinitiators, Bisphenol A, perfluorochemicals, primary aromatic amines and NIAS, among others are reviewed, and special emphasis is paid to the chemical aspects and analytical methodologies for their determination.

References

[1]L. Castle in Chemical Migration and Food Contact Materials, Eds., K.A. Barnes, C. Richard Sinclair and D.H. Watson, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, USA, 2007, p.1.

[2]G.L. Robertson in Food Packaging Principles and Practice, CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton, FL, USA, 2013.

[3]D. Sun Lee, K.L. Yam and L. Piergiovanni in Food Packaging Science and Technology, CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton, FL, USA, 2008.

[4]O. Lau and S. Wong, Journal of Chromatography A, 2000, 882, 255.

[5]J. Crank in Mathematics of Diffusion, 2nd Edition, Oxford Science Press, Oxford, UK, 1975.

[6]I.S. Arvnitoyannis and K.V. Kotsanopoulos, Food Bioprocess and Technology, 2014, 7, 21.

[7]E.A. Tehrany and S. Desobry, Food Additives & Contaminants, 2004, 21, 1186.

[8]P. Otero-Pazos, R. Sendón, B. Blanco-Fernandez, S. Blanco-Dorado, C. Alvarez-Lorenzo, A. Concheiro, I. Angulo, P. Paseiro-Losada and A.Rodríguez-Bernaldo de Quirós, Journal of Food Science and Technology, 2016, 53, 6, 2817.

[9]J. Maia, A. Rodríguez-Bernaldo de Quirós, R. Sendón, J.M. Cruz, A. Seiler, R. Franz, C. Simoneau, L. Castle, M. Driffield, P. Mercea, P. Ooldring, V. Tosa and P. Paseiro, Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A, 2016, 33, 4, 715.

[10]Note for Guidance for Petitioners Presenting an Application for the Safety Assessment of a Substance to be used in Food Contact Materials Prior to its Authorisation, European Food Safety Authority, Parma, Italy, 2008. http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/doc/21r.pdf

[11]Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004, of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 October 2004 on materials and articles intended to come into contact with food and repealing directives 80/590/EEC and 89/109/EEC, Official Journal of the European Union, L, 2004, 338, 4.

[12]Commission European Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 of 14th January 2011 on Plastic Materials and Articles Intended to Come into Contact with Food, Official Journal of the European Union L, 2011, 12, 1.

[13]Y. Sanchis, V. Yusà and C. Coscollà, Journal of Chromatography A, 2017, 1490, 22.

[14]I.S. Arvnitoyannis and L. Bosnea, Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 2004, 44, 63.

[15]J. Muncke, Science of Total Environment, 2009, 407, 4549.

2 Bisphenol A

2.1 Introduction

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an organic compound that consists of two phenol molecules bound by a methyl group and two methyl radicals [1].

BPA was first synthesised in 1891 by a Russian chemist Alexander P. Dianin via a condensation reaction of two phenol molecules and one acetone molecule (hence, the suffix ‘A’ in its name) in the presence of a catalyst such as hydrogen chloride or an ion-exchange resin. In 1930, BPA was analysed during investigations of synthetic oestrogen [2].

Nowadays, there are two methods for the manufacture of BPA: the acid-catalysed condensation of phenol and acetone using distillation technology, o...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Bisphenol A
• 3 Melamine
• 4 Phthalates and alternative plasticisers
• 5 Photoinitiators
• 6 Other chemical substances from food contact materials
• 7 Non-intentionally added substances
• 8 Estimation of exposure to migrants from food contact materials
• Index