Food contact materials – metals and alloys

Abstract

Metals and alloys are widely applied as food contact materials, e.g. as process equipment in the food industry and as household utensils. Therefore, they are a potential source of food contamination. Migration of substances from food contact materials to food must not occur in amounts that endanger human health. Relevant for food contact materials made from metals and alloys are the migration (release) of metals, both the main components and foreseen impurities. In-house control based on a declaration of compliance, DoC, and supporting documentation at the producers and importers are important prerequisites to limit this contamination and to ensure compliance with the legislation. This is considered a general part of quality assurance, even though the European legislation does not specifically require a DoC for metals and alloys used as food contact materials. This Nordic guideline gives a short overview of toxicology, analytical feasibility, legislation and guideline values for release of metals from food contact materials. Therefore, the guideline will be a useful tool for industry and official food inspectors. The guideline is based on the work done by the Council of Europe, risk assessments from the European Food Safety Authority, EFSA, and by the WHO/FAO Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives, JECFA. Additional sources of information on metals in food are the plastic food contact material (EU regulation 10/2011) and the contaminants legislation (EU regulation 1881/2006). Vanadium 0.01 Zinc 5 a Deriving an SRL was found unneccessary. The outcome of this work is to recommend these values as guideline values for release from food contact materials made of metals and alloys, and to give additional Nordic comments, e.g. concerning toxicology and analytical feasibility.

Investigation of antimony, cobalt, and acetaldehyde migration into the drinking water in Turkey

“…As seen in the table, cobalt migration was significantly observed in 10th and 12th months. Storage time is considered as an important factor for the release of cobalt into the packaged foods, and current findings show that cobalt migration accelerated towards the end of the storage time. The highest concentrations of cobalt were observed in drinking water stored in 0.5‐L bottles.…”

“…Migration of cobalt from PET material to the water must not occur in amounts that endanger human health. As toxicological effects, cobalt poisoning causes effects on heart, blood pressure, abdominal pain, difficulties with breathing, and in worst cases, death . Specific release limit for cobalt was announced as 50 μg/kg from plastic food contact materials by the European Commission .…”

“…Antimony, cobalt, and acetaldehyde migration concentrations from PET bottles (0.5, 1.5, and 5 L) into drinking water .001 0.50 ± 0.001 0.40 ± 0.001 0.00 ± 0.0000 0.00 ± 0.0000 0.03 ± 0.0001 <LOD <LOD <LOD 2 2.08 ± 0.004 0.71 ± 0.001 0.42 ± 0.001 0.00 ± 0.0000 0.00 ± 0.0000 0.05 ± 0.0001 11.01 ± 0.2 13.03 ± 0.1 10.02 ± 0.14 2.25 ± 0.002 0.79 ± 0.001 0.45 ± 0.001 0.02 ± 0.0002 0.01 ± 0.0001 0.06 ± 0.0002 13.05 ± 0.3 13.02 ± 0.3 12.04 ± 0.1…”

“…As toxicological effects, cobalt poisoning causes effects on heart, blood pressure, abdominal pain, difficulties with breathing, and in worst cases, death. 4 Specific release limit for cobalt was announced as 50 μg/kg from plastic food contact materials by the European Commission. 4 As seen, investigation of the cobalt migration from PET into the water is quite important considering public health.…”

Study of the Effects of Selected Heavy Metals in Wrapping Sheets and Food Products

“…The level of heavy metals varied in the range of; Cr (1.578 -7.736 ppm), Zn (0.591 -1.189 ppm), Hg (1.205 -4.508 ppm), Pb (0.293 -1.103 ppm), Fe (4.657 -16.060 ppm), Cu (0.018 -0.580 ppm), Mn (0.193 -0.493 ppm), As (0.010 -0.050), Co (0.020 -0.050) and Ni (0.215 -1.062 ppm). The permitted concentration as suggested by the European Union is Mn-1.80 ppm, Co-0.02 ppm, Cr-0.25 ppm, Cu -4.0 ppm, Fe-40.0 ppm, Ni -0.14 ppm, Hg -0.003 ppm, Zn -5.00 ppm, As -0.002 ppm and Pb -0.010 ppm (Cederberg et al, 2015). The highest concentration of Cr, Fe, Hg, Fe, Pb, Mn and Ni were observed in foil paper.…”