6th Food Packaging Symposium - ILSI Globalilsi.eu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/11/Conclusions_Keynote... · 6th International Food ... Safety Assessment Strategy. They include

6th International Food

Packaging Symposium

Keynote Speakers

Main Conclusions

Session 1: Progress in Risk

Assessment

Laurence Castle

Take home messages Session 1

1. Approaches to the determination of NIAS as part of safety by design

It showed the capabilities of modern instrumental methods of analysis and

the benefits of close-working in the packaging chain since this helps

identify, understand, and limit the migration of IAS and NIAS. But detecting

and identifying more-and-more of less-and-less has to be backed up with

tox evaluation, as the presentation described.

The work on migration from can coatings into foods is still in progress and

no firm conclusions can yet be drawn. But it does illustrate that the food

simulating system must be questioned at regular intervals to check that it is

reliable with regards to migration (identity and quantity) into ‘real’ foods.

Since these data are used to estimate exposure.

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2. TTC in safety assessment of FCMs

This presentation described a number of tools that are

bundled together as the CoMSAS - Complex Mixture

Safety Assessment Strategy. They include analytical

chemistry, bioassays and application of the TTC approach.

Going from Theory to Practice, some test cases were

outlined. This is a key activity. The importance of general

acceptance was stressed and is underway.

.

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3. Bioassays and packaging safety assessment

Here were described several in vitro tests covering

different end-points and used to evaluate mixtures.

A very impressive battery of tests. The key

question for me was the sentence ‘when you cross

a certain threshold you can consider the result as

positive”.

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There was also an excellent slide comparing the results for several

tests applied to extracts of can coatings. Of course one will choose

the coating that gives the fewest responses.

But if that coating is twice as expensive and also does not perform

so well in pack tests, maybe the 2nd best coating is still OK - in fact

better than OK if it maintains better pack integrity, food microbiology

and limits metals release.

So how can we set a threshold that can get accepted generally?

Making the link between in vitro tests and human health is needed.

But I am confident that this research will continue from strength to

strength.

.

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4. Prioritisation of potentially genotoxic substances migrating from

printed paper and board using in silico tools.

This described a very pragmatic application of 4 (Q)SAR tools

to the approximately 1769 substances that are potentially used

in printed P/B. What struck me was the lower than expected

degree of agreement (‘overlap) between the different tools.

Especially since about half (50/100) of the highest prioritised

substances were in the training set (i.e. actual gentox data

were available and used to construct the models) in which

case the degree of overlap was even weaker. This was a

useful reminder that these tools should be used with caution.

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What also struck me (and was mentioned

the following session) is that in the

prioritisation exercise it would be useful to

know just how many of these 1769 listed

substances are actually used?

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5. Hydrocarbons from FCMs - focus on polyolefins and hot-melt

adhesives

This presentation showcased the power of LC-GC and GC-MS

when applied to these fiendishly complex hydrocarbon

mixtures. Some of the mixtures can be unpicked almost

completely whereas other mixtures are too complex even for

these techniques to resolve them into individual component

parts. In any case, perhaps they have to be evaluated as a

whole, as complex mixtures. Since there are many potential

sources of contamination in foods of which FCMs is only one, a

common regulation for hydrocarbon contaminants in foods was

suggested.

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.

Overall I found it to be a fantastic, well balanced

session in which I learned a lot and which set me

thinking.

Thank you for the opportunity to share these short

thoughts and reflection with you.

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Session 2: Safety Challenges

Arising From Renewable and

Recycling Food Contact

Materials

Lionel Spack


Lionel Spack 1. Eco-design tools

1. Environmental performance

2. Quantification of improvement when renewable or

recycled materials are used

2. Safety & Compliance

1. Bioassay mapping

2. Low migration

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Lionel Spack 4. Functional barrier evaluation

Protection of food in bag-in-box design

Simple and pragmatic approach/testing

5. On-line detection

Fast detection of main contaminants

Quality monitoring “on-time”

6. Modified PLA-Nanoclay

Oxygen barrier improvement

Improve mechanical behavior: stiffness, resistance

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Session 3: Safety-By-Design

Roland Franz


Roland Franz

1. It was generally found and appreciated

that scientific knowledge in the area of

molecular mass transport in and migration

from FCMs as well as evaluation tools like

migration modeling and sophisticated

analytical tools have made tremendous

progress in support of safety-by-design.

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Roland Franz

2. As a direct consequence it was found that

the currently recognised migration model in

use is in many cases not only

overconservative but even too far away from

real migration and therefore needs

refinements in terms of updating the

underlying modeling parameters (diffusion

coefficients in polymers and partition

coefficients between polymer and foods).

3. Zzz

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Roland Franz

3. Studies have been carried out and are still

in hands to update modeling parameters in

particular for small molecules in polymer

systems like PET, Nylon, EVOH and similar

to allow more precise migration and

exposure modeling.

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Roland Franz

4. An empirical, semi-scientific model for

derivation of diffusion coefficients from

polymer properties such as glass transition

temperatures was presented as another

promising tool with the perspective for

broader applicability to any polymer type.

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Roland Franz

5. Concerning partition coefficients either

between food contact polymer and food or

between different polymers in multilayers

knowledge and data gaps were identified

and more research in that direction was felt

to needed.

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Roland Franz

6. Simulation of mass transport processes

on the basis of molecular dynamics can be

used to proactively scrutinize intended food

packaging applications in support of safety-

by-design. However, it was felt that

experimental data are still missing to

validate these calculations and generate

confidence in their applicability.

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Session 4: Innovation

Packaging and Emerging

Technologies

Cristina Nerín


Cristina Nerín

1. Most of the research done is on ACTIVE Packaging.

Only two posters and one oral on INTELLIGENT Packaging.

2. Active agents are mainly plant extracts and EOs.

Only one uses TiO2 as antimicrobial after activation UV-VIS.

3. Three posters on the mode of action of active packaging.

4. Technologies for active packaging: a) substances

encapsulation (PVOH, Cyclodextrins, liposoms) and b)

production (flexography, electrospinning).

5. Most of the studies use Biopolymers (PLA, gelatine-

starch) with improved properties.

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Cristina Nerín

6. Only a few organoleptic studies even though active agents

have strong odour and/or taste.

7. Studies on Migration of nanoparticles (three posters, one

oral).

8. Barrier to gases: Two posters on O2 scavengers and two

posters for improving the barrier properties.

9. Effect of food processing on migration.

10. Most of the presentations are far from the market.

More interaction between academia and industry

is required.

11. Food industry is not using the innovations, even

though there are some good materials on the market.

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Session 5: Future Challenges in

Food Packaging Processing

and Food Processing

Equipment

Mauro Fedeli


Mauro Fedeli

Sustainability:

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Reduction of plastic

packaging waste

Reduction of food waste

Compostable materials

Active packaging: oxygen

scavengers ethylene

inhibitors

Different portion sizes

Increasing the barrier properties of packaging

Increasing shelf life of products

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6th Food Packaging Symposium - ILSI Globalilsi.eu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/11/Conclusions_Keynote... · 6th International Food ... Safety Assessment Strategy. They include