Abstract
Food contact materials (FCMs) are used to make food contact articles (FCAs) that come into contact with food and beverages during, e.g., processing, storing, packaging, or consumption. FCMs/FCAs can cause chemical contamination of food when migration of their chemical constituents (known as food contact chemicals, FCCs) occurs. Some FCCs are known to be hazardous. However, the total extent of exposure to FCCs, as well as their health and environmental effects, remain unknown, because information on chemical structures, use patterns, migration potential, and health effects of FCCs is often absent or scattered across multiple sources. Therefore, we initiated a research project to systematically collect, analyze, and publicly share information on FCCs. As a first step, we compiled a database of intentionally added food contact chemicals (FCCdb), presented here. The FCCdb lists 12′285 substances that could possibly be used worldwide to make FCMs/FCAs, identified based on 67 FCC lists from publicly available sources, such as regulatory lists and industry inventories. We further explored FCCdb chemicals’ hazards using several authoritative sources of hazard information, including (i) classifications for health and environmental hazards under the globally harmonized system for classification and labeling of chemicals (GHS), (ii) the identification of chemicals of concern due to endocrine disruption or persistence related hazards, and (iii) the inclusion on selected EU- or US-relevant regulatory lists of hazardous chemicals. This analysis prioritized 608 hazardous FCCs for further assessment and substitution in FCMs/FCAs. Evaluation based on non-authoritative, predictive hazard data (e.g., by in silico modeling or literature analysis) highlighted an additional 1411 FCCdb substances that could thus present similar levels of concern, but have not been officially classified so far. Lastly, for over a quarter of all FCCdb chemicals no hazard information could be found in the sources consulted, revealing a significant data gap and research need.
Highlights
Food contact materials (FCMs) can be defined as materials that come into contact with food and beverages during food processing, packaging, transport, storage, cooking, or serving
As the consulted sources generally describe these food contact chemical (FCC) as intentionally added substances, it can be assumed that they are being used in FCMs/food contact article (FCA) manu facture in at least some parts of the world
We explored the food contact chemicals database (FCCdb) chemicals’ hazards to health (HH) or the environment (ENVH) based on respective GHS-aligned classifications extracted from two authoritative sources: the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)’s Classification and Labeling inventory (ECHA-C&L; classifications available for 900 (7.8%)
Summary
Food contact materials (FCMs) can be defined as materials that come into contact with food and beverages during food processing, packaging, transport, storage, cooking, or serving. FCMs and, FCAs, are made of and contain diverse chemical constituents, which can be both intentionally used and nonintentionally present, here collectively referred to as food contact chemicals (FCCs) (Muncke et al, 2017). Many more FCCs that are known or suspected to be hazardous could be contributing to human exposure and health effects (Geueke and Muncke, 2018; Geueke et al, 2014; Grob et al, 2010; Liu and Mabury, 2019; Mertens et al, 2016; Qian et al, 2018; Simoneau et al, 2016; Zim mermann et al, 2019). Over half of all chemical additives allowed to be used in food in the US were found to lack appropriate toxicological data required to determine their safety (Neltner et al, 2013)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
