Migration from active and intelligent packaging into foodstuffs

4 Migration from active and intelligent packaging into foodstuffs 

EEC ° as last amended by Directive 97/48/EC sets requirements (time temperature conditions, selection of simulants) for testing of plastic materials and articles with food simulants. Directive 85/572/EEC indicates the simulants that shall be used for specified foods or groups of foods. See Chapter 5 for further details on these controls. Regulation of chemical migration from plastics into food and drink has developed over many years. EU regulatory control of active and intelligent packaging will therefore have to fit in with this well-established system of controls. 

To support the analyst in applying such controls, CEN (the European Standardisation Commission) has in TC 194 adopted and validated analytical methods for the determination of the overall migration and the migration of some specific substances. These methods are intended to be applied for testing plashc materials and articles. At national level, e.g., in The Netherlands, the methods and simulants may also be used to demonstrate compliance with national regulation of non-plastic or multilayer materials composed of plastics and non-plastics (e.g. plastic on paper, coating on metal). 

Another variable is the type of food in contact with the active or intelligent packaging. Here there may be liquid contact (e.g. for an oxygen-scavenging crown cork for beer), dry contact (e.g. a preservative releaser for buns) or semi-solid contact (e.g. an oxygen scavenger for processed ham). 

OS = oxygen scavenger ES = ethylene scavenger MR = moisture regulator AMP = antimicrobial system O = releaser. 

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