ILSI Europe suggests guidelines to assess the safety of non-intentionally added substances in food contact materials

The Packaging Materials Task Force of ILSI Europe has recently published an article about non-intentionally added substances (NIAS). The study aimed to develop guidelines to support the safety assessment of these substances in food contact materials (FCMs).    

There are numerous methodologies for assessing the identity and quantities of NIAS in FCMs. However, these approaches can give different results, making it difficult to compare them. 

The researchers reviewed and compared procedures for sample preparation, screening, identification, and quantification of NIAS, as well as all the different analytical equipment available for the analysis, highlighting, at the same time, limitations of today’s capabilities and research needs.    

FCMs contain substances with the potential to migrate into foodstuffs. Until recently, the evaluation of the safety of FCMs was limited to the intentionally added substances (IAS), however, the evaluation of NIAS has gained increasing attention since they were specifically mentioned in the European legislation on plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food.    According to this legislation, the presence of NIAS in FCMs is acceptable but should be assessed, however, guidance on how NIAS should be analyzed is lacking. Moreover, the study and identification of NIAS in FCMs and their migration are very challenging, especially for unknown/unpredictable NIAS.    

Since all packaging materials can transfer NIAS, the authors suggest that the guidance presented in the study can be applied to any kind of FCMs, including recycled materials.  

NIAS are classified as substances of very high concern according to the European Chemical Agency (ECHA), therefore the authors imply that great attention has to be paid to these kinds of substances to guarantee their safety when present in FCMs, even at low concentrations.    

Source:    

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19440049.2021.2012599