On May 19, 2022, a peer-reviewed scientific article describing a novel Database on Migrating and Extractable Food Contact Chemicals (FCCmigex) was published in the peer-reviewed journal Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. This novel database systematically maps the scientific evidence of food contact chemicals (FCCs) that have been measured in migrates and extracts of food contact materials and articles. The FCCmigex database was compiled by a team of researchers from the Food Packaging Forum (FPF) together with colleagues from eight academic institutions. They analyzed 1,210 scientific studies that resulted from a systematic literature search and passed a two-phase screening process. In total, the database contains more than 3,000 food contact chemicals and over 22,000 database entries.
An interactive tool that is hosted on FPF’s website allows everyone to search and filter the FCCmigex database to find information about specific FCCs, food contact materials, and related questions.
“Thanks to the FCCmigex database, science-based information about the available evidence is just a few mouse-clicks away now,” says Jane Muncke, Managing Director of the Food Packaging Forum and co-author of the scientific publication. “This database will be a unique and highly useful resource for any experts working on food contact materials as it allows users to explore the known universe of food contact chemicals.”
All FCCs in the database were investigated either for their presence in food contact materials, or for their propensity to transfer into food under real-world conditions, thus making human exposure to these chemicals highly probable. Importantly, only one third of FCCs that were detected in these studies were previously known to be used in the manufacture of food contact materials. And of all the materials investigated, 60% of the studies were on plastics with 1,976 different chemicals detected.
While the new FCCmigex database includes a great amount of information for some of the most well-studied FCCs, such as bisphenols, phthalates, and PFAS, it also contains hundreds of chemicals for which there is only very little known about their use and migration behavior – but these data are critical for determining human health risks.
The database and accompanying journal article are the latest outcomes from FPF’s ongoing Food Contact Chemicals and Human Health (FCCH) Project. In November 2020, the Food Contact Chemicals Database (FCCdb) and an accompanying scientific article were published providing an overview of intentionally used food contact chemicals and their hazards. Together, the two databases FCCmigex and FCCdb can be considered to represent the universe of known FCCs.
References
Geueke, B. et al. (2022). “Systematic evidence on migrating and extractable food contact chemicals: Most chemicals detected in food contact materials are not listed for use.” Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2022.2067828
Food Packaging Forum (2022). “Database on Migrating and Extractable Food Contact Chemicals (FCCmigex).” Interactive tool
Read more
Matt Krupnick (May 19, 2022). “More than 3,000 potentially harmful chemicals found in food packaging.” The Guardian
Groh, K. et al. (2020) “Overview of intentionally used food contact chemicals and their hazards.” Environment International, DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2020.106225
Groh, K. et al. (2020) “FCCdb: Food Contact Chemicals database.” Zenodo, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3240108
