On November 26, 2018, at 03:00 pm CET (Central European Time), the Food Packaging Forum (FPF) held a public webinar on prioritization of potentially genotoxic substances in printed paper and board food contact materials (FCMs) using non-animal methods.
Substances used in printed paper and board FCMs are currently not subject to specific harmonized EU legislation. However, these compounds may migrate into food or drinks and cause adverse human health effects, including cancer. In this webinar, a prioritization strategy for their in-depth safety assessment, established by combining knowledge from in vitro, in silico and existing experimental studies, was presented.
Guest speaker Melissa Van Bossuyt is a toxicologist at Sciensano, the new Belgian federal scientific institute conducting research on public and animal health as well as on environmental issues – under the framework of the One Health principle. She gained interest in the toxicological characterisation of FCM components during her PhD project, which she performed in collaboration with the former Belgian Scientific Institute of Public Health and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (FPF reported). Earlier this year, she defended her PhD thesis on genotoxic substances in printed paper and board FCMs. Her presentation was followed by an interactive Q&A session.
