Advice of the Scientific Committee of the Belgian Food Safety Agency on the risk assessment of migration from food contact materials - explorative case studies

In this opinion, the issue of migrating components from food contact materials (FCM; packaging, but also e.g. utensils, pipes, storage tanks) is discussed by means of a number of exploratory case studies. The issue and risk assessment of components migrating from FCM is complex since it is not only about packaging, but also objects and other materials that come into contact with food. Moreover, different substances may be used to provide FCM the desired functionality and the identity and toxicity of potentially migrating substances are not always known (cf. NIAS or 'Non-Intentionally Added Substances', such as contaminants, impurities, reaction or degradation products). Additionally, migration is a dynamic phenomenon that is influenced by several variables (not only by the contact surface between FCM and food product, but also by the nature of the food, storage conditions, processing, etc.). The exposure assessment of FCM components includes consequently a number of uncertainties. Data are often scarce or missing (e.g. market data on the type of packaging of food consumed) and/or are based on an extrapolation of data available for comparable FCM components with a similar functionality. To determine whether the exposure to an FCM component entails a risk to human health, a tiered approach can be followed, starting from the most conservative scenario.