Worrying substances from materials in contact with food

Most food products distributed in developed countries are packaged. Packaging is a barrier designed to prevent chemical and microbiological contamination of foodstuffs, and to extend their shelf life. They also serve as an information medium for the consumer. But alongside their many beneficial aspects, packaging also introduces a potential risk for the consumer, due to the migration into food of certain constituents of the materials.

National authorities have therefore sought to regulate the risk. In principle, the regulation of consumer health is based on a very general basic requirement, formulated in Regulation (EC) No. 1935/2004 : "materials and articles in contact with food must not release substances in quantities liable to endanger food safety".

In practice, each Member State, and indeed each industry, is free to apply its own risk assessment tools and methods, resulting in confusion that is highly detrimental to both risk perception and the free movement of goods. To remedy this situation, the European Commission has undertaken harmonization work, which has led to the proposal and adoption of specific directives, defining precisely how to meet the fundamental requirements of the Framework Directive. However, current regulations are still incomplete, and do not yet cover all areas of packaging, as there are still sectors where scientific knowledge has yet to be acquired. This is the case for innovative packaging (such as active and intelligent packaging), or for older systems whose risk assessment is complex. This is particularly true of reactive systems, where the potential migrants are not the molecules introduced during manufacture, but the reaction products of these molecules with their environment, or of these molecules with each other (so-called "neoformed" compounds). In fact, materials are subjected to conditions that may favor the formation of new potential migrants (post-treatments such as sterilization, baking, etc.). As a result, the risk is not limited to the original substances, but to a sometimes large number of by-products whose chemical nature and resulting toxicity are unknown.

The aim of this short presentation is not to generate a media storm over the potential risks associated with certain substances derived from food contact materials. On the contrary, it is –, in the context of a subject as complex as risk assessment –, to make the reader aware, through a few typical examples, of the sustained efforts being made at several levels (academic, industrial, regulatory) to contribute to improved food safety and thus increase consumer confidence in the...