Contamination of Foods by Migration of Some Elements from Plastics Packaging

Abstract

There are various types of packaging material including paper, board, plastic, metal, glass, wood and other materials. Paper and board packaging accounted for the largest share of global packaging sales in 2003 with 39% of the total. Plastic packaging accounted for 30% (rigid and flexible plastics) of the market, with metal packaging accounting for 18% and glass packaging a further 7%. Other packaging products accounted for the remaining 6% of the market. Rigid plastics was the fastest growing sector of the market during the period 1999-2003. Around 70% of overall consumer packaging consumption is used for food and beverage packaging (WPO, 2008). Many different types of plastics are being used as packaging materials. The key components in plastic materials are polymers which are made of units of organic material, and one or more of large molecular weight can be formed as desired. Most polymers are petrochemical compounds with additive materials to give them properties of flexibility, elasticity and resistance to fracture and transparency to light ( OiWah & Siu-Kay, 2000; Al-Dayel et. al. 2009)