Impact of Partitioning in Short-Term Food Contact Applications Focused on Polymers in Support of Migration Modelling and Exposure Risk Assessment

Food contact materials (FCMs) can transfer chemicals arising from their manufacture to food before consumption. Regulatory frameworks ensure consumer safety by prescribing methods for the assessment of FCMs that rely on migration testing either into real-life foods or food simulants. Standard migration testing conditions for single-use FCMs are justifiably conservative, employing recognized worst-case contact times and temperatures. For repeated-use FCMs, the third of three consecutive tests using worst-case conditions is taken as a surrogate of the much shorter contact period that often occurs over the service life of these items. Food contact regulations allow for the use of migration modelling for the chemicals in the FCM and for the partitioning that occurs between the FCM and food/simulant during prolonged contact, under which steady-state conditions are favored. This study demonstrates that the steady-state is rarely reached under repeated-use conditions and that partitioning plays a minor role that results in migration essentially being diffusion controlled. Domains of use have been identified within which partitioning does not play a significant role, allowing modelling based upon diffusion parameters to be used. These findings have the potential to advance the modelling of migration from repeated-use articles for the benefit of regulatory guidance and compliance practices.

Development and Validation of a UHPLC-qTOF MS Method for the Determination of Sorbitol-Based Nuclear Clarifying Agents in Food Simulants after Migration from Food Contact Materials

Nuclear clarifying agents (NCAs) are a class of substances frequently used as additives in the production of polymers to improve their physical properties. Some are EU regulated under Commission Regulation (EU) no. 10/2011 can be used as additives in the production of food contact plastics. However, limited analytical methods for their analysis are currently available, in part due to poor solubility in most common organic solvents and lack of analytical standards of known purity. In this work, a simple and sensitive method was developed to analyze 4 EU-regulated sorbitol-based nucleating agents in food simulants, following solubility studies to establish effective solvents. The method was shown to be accurate and precise and can be used with official food simulant D1 (50% v/v ethanol/H2O). Application to other ethanolic simulants is also possible, but due to solubility issues, a posteriori conversion of those simulants into simulant D1 is required. Finally, the method was applied to quantify the target analytes in simulants after migration testing with polypropylene (PP) beverage cups.

Considerations for and Guidance to Testing and Evaluating Migration/Release of Nanoparticles from Polymer Based Nanocomposites

The use of nanoadditives in food contact materials requires risk assessment to ensure consumers’ safety. The evaluation of health risk is based on the combination of two elements: hazard and exposure. For nanomaterials (NM) used as additives in nanocomposites, the exposure is directly linked to the level of migration or release of the NM into the food. In principle, appropriate methods for experimental determination and theoretical estimation of migration are available but need diligent considerations to avoid erroneous conclusions from the measured data. We propose a comprehensive test scheme based on these methods, starting with characterization of the nanomaterial itself and when incorporated in the polymer. These data form the basis for making a decision whether migration of the NM can be excluded by migration theoretical considerations or if experimental migration testing and/or abrasion testing for mechanical release should be carried out. Guidance to and considerations for each of these steps and regarding the applicable methods are discussed. In conclusion, the results will provide a basis for risk assessment, either directly when exposure of consumers to the nanomaterials can be excluded or will be very low or, in the case of evidenced exposure, in combination with then needed toxicological data.

Towards an Automated Testing Framework for Big Data

Big data testing services are to deliver end to end testing methodologies which address our big data challenges. The testing module includes two types of functionalities. One is functional testing and second is non- functional testing. The functional testing should be accomplished at every stage of big data processing. Functional testing is nothing but the big data sources extraction testing, data migration testing and big data ecosystem. Testing which completes ETL test strategy, Map job reduce validation, multicore Data integration validation and data duplication check. On the other side the non-functional testing is to ensure that there are no quality defeat in data and no performance related issues. It covers the area for security testing, performance testing which solve the problem of monitoring and identify bottlenecks.

Assessment of the Impact of Accelerated Migration Testing for Coated Food Cans Using Food Simulants

In this study, an accelerated migration test on food can coatings into food simulants was investigated. Food simulants covering a wide range of polarity were used to conduct migration tests at 60 °C with storage times ranging from 4 h to 30 days. Epoxy-resins, acrylic–phenolic, polyester, and vinyl coatings were exposed to water, 3% acetic acid, 50% ethanol, and Miglyol 812®. Using liquid chromatography coupled to a variety of detectors (UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap-MS, UFLC-MS/MS, and HPLC-DAD), migration of several monomers and previously identified oligomers, as well as some unidentified migrants, were determined during the experiment. The data from this study was compared to our findings from previous long-term migration studies with storage times ranging from 24 h to 540 days at 40 °C using the same can coating applications. The results illustrate that performing migration experiments for short time periods at 60 °C may mimic migration results that would be obtained at 40 °C after long-term migration tests (up to 1.5 years) from food can coatings into food simulants.