Take-away food packaging migration

Case study Chemical migration from snack and take-away food packaging... 

Features of take-away food packaging that may result in increased migration... 

Specific migration studies in which take-away food packaging materiais have been investigated... 

When purchased by the consumer take-away foods may also have come into contact with other food contact materials. Examples include the packaging in which the food is stored prior to cooking/heating, the metal and/or plastic food contact utensils and the cookware (e.g. metal pans which may have a non-stick coating applied) used in the cooking/heating of the foodstuff at the point of sale. Migration from these materials and articles is not described here. 

A study of the potential for chemical migration from packaging used for take-away food and drink. L. Castle and M. Philo, CSL Report FD 00/42, 2001. 

In the absence of specific legislation for the other (non-plastic) food contact materials used in take-away and snack food packaging then the plastics legislation is used as a guide, although limits are not taken as presumptive standards. Where possible, in the absence of specific migration limits (SMLs), levels found are related back to exposure restrictions such as tolerable daily intake (TDl) or acceptable daily intake (ADI). 

Many of the studies carried out to determine the migration from take-away and snack food packaging have been funded by the UK Food Standards Agency and additional information relating to these studies may be found on the FS A website (www.food.gov.uk). Detailed reports describing all the FS A funded work outlined in this chapter are available from the enquiry desk of the FSA library (e-mail library info foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk). 

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