RESEARCH AREAS
Screening of food and food packaging
Development and Validation of Screening Methods for Contaminants in Packaging
Current state of the art
Using recycled packaging waste and sustainable packaging materials to create new food packaging increases the number and level of chemicals that can then migrate from the packaging into food, and this can hamper the circular economy. Several food packaging industries, including the ones supporting the project, have interest in developing screening methods, both laboratory and on-site, for testing waste materials from packaging production. At European level, the Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/1616 [22] on recycled plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foods has entered into force on 10 October 2022 (replacing EU reg. 282/2008). It is also expected that availability of other types of recycled plastic polymers, beyond PET, will increase on the market in the coming years, which will benefit from the EU legal framework now in place for such innovation. In addition, it is quite clear that recycled paper and board used in FCM would require similar rules as recycled plastics. The Commission will consider such rules as part of the revision of the FCM legislation that is presently being prepared. In November 2022, as part of the European Green Deal and the new circular economy action plan, the EU Commission put forward a revision of the PPWD (Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive). The initiative’s objective is to ensure that all packaging is reusable or recyclable in an economically feasible way by 2030.
Progresses beyond the state of the art
As a result of the project, screening methods will be validated, and migration studies will be developed on food simulants and selected food matrices for assessing the possibly different types and levels of contamination from recycled and sustainable packaging compared to virgin and traditional material. Also, the outcomes of the project will contribute to the ongoing activities of the revision of EU FCM rules and of the PPWD by providing stakeholders with analytical tools for facing some of the main problems posed by the recycled materials, e.g., cross-contamination of compostable recycling streams and presence of potentially hazardous substances in packaging. For a better understanding of the actual contamination of food and packaging matrices, considering the risk of missing some perfluorinated compounds by targeted analytical methods, analytical tools for detection of total extractable fluorine need to be tested and validated as well. The validation of screening methods for both organic and inorganic contaminants in food and food packaging matrices will support the development of migration studies in relevant food matrices, for a critical evaluation of food safety related to novel and sustainable food packaging.
The participation of industry participants in the project and the establishment of a Stakeholder Committee will also ensure that the project is constantly aligned with industrial needs.
Industrial participants will provide the metrological community with inputs, key insights and cutting-edge technologies through laboratories and skilled personnel with decades of experience in food contaminants analysis and method development. In addition, the collaboration with food industries will allow the consortium to obtain selected food matrices (specifically vegetable oils and infant food) from all the stages of the production chain.