Abstract
The packaging of a beverage is an essential element for customer convenience and the preservation of beverage quality. On the other hand, chemical compounds present in the packaging materials, either intentionally added or non-intentionally, may be transferred to the food. With a huge variety of materials used in the production, beverage packaging requires safety assessments with respect to the migration of packaging compounds into the filled beverages. The present article deals with potential migrants from different materials for beverage packaging, including PET bottles, glass bottles, metal cans and cardboard multilayers. The list of migrants comprises monomers and additives, oligomers or degradation products. The article presents a review on scientific literature and summarizes European food regulatory requirements. The review shows no evidence of critical substances migrating from packaging into beverages. Testing the migration in real beverages during and at the end of the shelf life shows compliance with the specific migration limits. Accelerated testing using food simulants, however, shows higher migration in some cases, especially at high temperatures in ethanolic simulants. For some migrants, more realistic testing conditions should be applied in order to show compliance with their specific migration limits.
Highlights
Beverages are one of the food categories with the broadest variety of packaging materials
As an overall conclusion from the data of the above-mentioned studies, the concentration of bisphenol A determined in beverages is in the lower μg/L range, which results in
In the European Union, general food regulatory requirements with regard to safety and sensory aspects are laid down in the Framework Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 which is applicable to beverage packaging composed of any material
Summary
Beverages are one of the food categories with the broadest variety of packaging materials. Sensitive beverages like fruit juices and beer are still packed in glass bottles. Developed and brought on the market in 1951, cardboard multilayer packaging, with or without aluminum films as oxygen barriers, is used today mainly for the packing of milk and juices, which are oxygen and light sensitive beverages. Within the last three decades, these traditional beverage packaging materials are losing market share towards PET bottles. Whereas cardboard and metal beverage packaging are only one-use packaging materials, bottles made of glass and PET may be refillable or non-refillable. In the case of oxygen or light sensitive beverages, the packaging materials protect the beverage from these negative influences Another important function of beverage packaging is tamper-proofing. From a legal point of view, the beverage packaging materials were evaluated according to European food law with their specific migration limits and testing conditions
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