Packaging Materials

Scientifically addressing the main challenges in the safety and quality of food contact materials

Objectives

For more than 30 years, the Task Force has strived to understand the challenges to ensure safe food contact
materials for food consumption by:

Evaluating food contact materials safety and their interactions with food to ensure consumers’ safety at minimal environmental impact;
Addressing recent improvements in food production and distribution, leading to an increased sophistication of food packaging.

Impact

Since 2000, the Task Force has published a series of guidance documents on packaging materials recognised and used by industries, universities and institutions.
Organised every four years and attended by more than 300 experts, the International Symposia on Food Packaging provide a unique platform to discuss the science of the safety and quality of food packaging.
In February 2021, the Task Force organised a multistakeholder workshop to discuss best practices in NIAS analysis. Building on the discussion, a review on analytical techniques for NIAS identification and quantification was recently published (Nerín et al., TBC).

For more detailed information, please contact Simeon Bourdoux at sbourdoux@ilsieurope.be at or Adam Coventry at acoventry@ilsieurope.be

Task Force Members


Dr Thomas Gude – Chair	Swiss Quality Testing Services	Department Head	CH
Prof. Thomas Simat – Co-Chair	Technical University of Dresden	Professor	DE
Dr Neil Buck	General Mills	Corporate Toxicologist	CH
Dr Sigrid Gerold	Mayr-Melnhof Karton	Food Contact Specialist	AT
Mr Sami Hamdi	Mondelēz International	Senior Associate Principal Scientist	UK
Dr Charlène Lacourt	Danone Nutricia Research	Toxicologist-Risk Assessor	FR
Dr Christina Northfleet	Omya International	Head of Group Regulatory Affairs	CH
Dr Peter OIdring	Sherwin Williams	Regulatory Affairs Manager	UK
Dr Gabriele Pieper	Tetra Pak	Managing Director	DE
Ms Susanne Rueckert	Südzucker Group	Manager Product Safety	DE
Mr Charles Turner	PPG Industries	Global Technical Director Packaging Coatings	UK
Mr Peter van Herwijnen	Dow Europe	Regulatory Affairs Manager	DE
Dr Si Wang	PepsiCo International	Senior Scientist in Scientific Affairs	UK
Dr Siméon Bourdoux	ILSI Europe	Scientific Project Manager	BE

* Scientific Advisors

Expert Groups

Best Practices for Identifying and Quantifying Unknown Migrants from Food Contact Materials (FCMs)

Background & Objectives
The NIAS (Non-Intentionally Added Substances) are present in all Food Contact Materials. However, there is no common methodology on how to perform the sample preparation, analysis, or on how to identify and more importantly quantify the migrants.
This activity aims to provide best practices to identify and quantify unknown migrants from FCMs, with widely differing characteristics and applicable to any type of single use FCM. The objective is to determine whether a set of basic golden rules could align procedures.

Output
This activity will result in a recommendation document that will determine potential best practices to align methods available for untargeted screening and future testing.
The expert group will produce one peer-reviewed publication with the state-of-the-art of analytical techniques for NIAS identification and quantification as well as a practical guidance with “do’s and don’ts“ in NIAS analysis.

7^th International Symposium on Food Packaging
Due to COVID19 pandemic, the symposium will now be a digital-only event and will take place from 3rd-6th May, 2022

Background & Objectives
The ILSI Europe International Symposium on Food Packaging is held every four years. It is internationally recognised as a scientific forum to discuss and move forward the science that supports safety and innovation in the field, with minimal environmental impact.
This conference of experts facilitates transfer of knowledge and brings innovative solutions to the most pressing issues in this field. The proceedings of these symposia are published in Food Additives and Contaminants: Part A.

Output
This three-day conference will be structured around 4 main themes:

Advances in analytical techniques.
Progress in toxicological prediction and assessment.
Progress in risk assessment.
Food Contact Materials in circular economy.

Expert Groups Members

Best Practices for Identifying and Quantifying Unknown Migrants from Food Contact Materials (FCMs)


Dr Peter Oldring - Chair	Sherwin Williams	Regulatory Affairs Manager	UK
Prof. Cristina Nerín – Vice-Chair	University of Zaragoza	Professor	ES
Dr Birgit Faust	Dow Europe	Analytical Specialist	DE
Dr Thomas Gude	Swiss Quality Testing Services	Department Head	CH
Ms Céline Lesueur	Danone Nutricia Research	Food Safety and Analytical Governance Manager	FR
Prof. Thomas Simat	Technical University of Dresden	Professor	DE
Dr Angela Stoermer	Fraunhofer IVV	Senior Scientist	DE
Dr Els Van Hoeck	Sciensano	Head Of Unit - Consumer Safety	BE
Dr Siméon Bourdoux	ILSI Europe	Scientific Project Manager	BE

7^th International Symposium on Food Packaging

Organising Committee Members


Prof. Cristina Nerín – Vice-Chair	University of Zaragoza	Professor	ES
Dr Emma Bradley	FERA Science	Head of Food Quality and Safety	UK
Dr Nathalie Gontard	National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA)	Analytical Specialist	FR
Dr Thomas Gude	Swiss Quality Testing Services	Department Head	CH
Dr Christina Northfleet	Omya International	Food Safety and Analytical Governance Manager	CH
Dr Peter Oldring	Sherwin Williams	Regulatory Affairs Manager	UK
Mr Peter van Herwijnen	Dow Deutschland Vertrieb	Regulatory Affairs Manager	DE
Dr Si Wang	PepsiCo International	Senior Scientist in Scientific Affairs	UK
Dr Siméon Bourdoux	ILSI Europe	Scientific Project Manager	BE

Scientific Committee Members


Prof. Alejandro Ariosti	National Institute of Industrial Technology (INTI)	Technical Assistant Food Packaging	AR
Dr Emma Bradley	FERA Science	Head of Food Quality and Safety	UK
Prof. Nathalie Gontard	National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA)	Research Director	FR
Dr John Koontz	US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)	Research Chemist – Food Packaging Safety	US
Prof. Cristina Nerín	University of Zaragoza	Professor	ES
Prof. Peter Ragaert	University of Ghent	Professor	BE
Prof. Thomas Simat	Technical University of Dresden	Professor	DE
Prof. Peter Simon	Slovak University of Technology	Professor	SK
Dr Frank Welle	Fraunhofer Institute (IVV)	Development Manager Packaging	DE
Prof. Selçuk Yildirim	Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW)	Head of Center of Technology and Packaging	CH
Dr Marco Zhong	National Reference Laboratory for Food Contact Material - IQTC	Laboratory Director	CN

Publications

All Publications

Mineral oil risk assessment: Knowledge gaps and roadmap. Outcome of a multi-stakeholders workshop

2021

ILSI Europe

Trends in Food Science & Technology Volume 113, July 2021, Pages 151-166. Commissioned by the Process-Related Compounds & Natural Toxins Task Force and the Packaging Materials Task Force.

Value and limitation of in vitro bioassays to support the application of the threshold of toxicological concern to prioritise unidentified chemicals in food contact materials

2019

ILSI Europe

Food Additives and Contaminants: Part A. 2019. Commissioned by the Packaging Materials Task Force.