The toxicological testing of food contact materials (FCMs) has been dominated by a focus on single substances typically tested for only a few toxicological endpoints, most prominently genotoxicity. In contrast, people are commonly exposed to mixtures of substances migrating from FCMs into food, and upon chronic exposure to these chemical mixtures, a variety of toxic effects other than genotoxicity could potentially be induced. To improve the relevance of adopted testing procedures for assessing the impacts of real-life exposures on chronic toxicity outcomes, the toxicological testing of FCMs could be adjusted to testing their overall migrates or extracts through rapid and cost-effective non-animal-based bioassays. These bioassays should be selected on the basis of their relevance for the endpoints and outcomes of interest, for example, with regard to non-communicable diseases of current public health concern that are suspected to be potentially induced or affected by chronic chemical exposures. In 2017, the Food Packaging Forum published an article in the peer-reviewed journal Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety on the state-of-the-art and future challenges of in vitro toxicity testing of FCMs. A summary article is available, and the full article can be downloaded for free from the publisher’s website.
Reference
Groh, K., and Muncke, J. (2017). “In vitro toxicity testing of food contact materials: State-of-the-art and future challenges.” Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety 16(5): 1123-1150.
