Improving the safety of secondary packaging materials with regard to chemical migration

6 Improving the safety of secondary packaging materials with regard to chemical migration 

In a report detailing research carried out for the UK Food Standards Agency on transfer from secondary packaging to foods, Jickells et al. (2004) proposed a set of guidelines on how transfer from secondary packaging could be minimised. The recommendations were as follows  

All persons involved in manufacturing materials intended to be used as secondary packaging for foodstuffs and those involved in supplying food for human consumption should take into consideration secondary packaging used in the storage, transport and distribution of food at all stages of the food production process, including importation of foodstuffs. In order to 

Manufacturers of secondary packaging, packaging converters and printers, food manufacturers, food distributors and retailers should ensure that the raw materials and processes used in manufacture, food distribution and retail sale do not result in residues of substances in the packaging which could subsequently transfer to foods and pose a risk to human health. 

The volatility of a substance is of particular importance in transfer. The more volatile a substance, the more readily it is likely to transfer to foods if it is present in secondary packaging, compared to less volatile substances. This assumes that the substance can transfer through the primary packaging or other intervening layers (see section below on intervening layers). 

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