To help gather and share available information on food contact chemicals (FCCs) used in the manufacture of food contact materials and articles, the Food Packaging Forum has developed a freely available global database of FCCs
The Food Contact Chemicals database (FCCdb) contains an extensive set of intentionally added food contact chemicals (FCCs), with hazard and regulatory information included where available. Its scope is global.
The FCCdb compiles information from 67 lists of FCCs from publicly available sources, including regulatory lists and industry inventories. The current version of the database (version 5.0) identifies 12,285 distinct FCCs that are potentially used worldwide in the manufacture of food contact materials and articles (FCMs and FCAs). Following a review of all substances within the database, authoritative sources of hazard information (such as the Globally Harmonized System) were used to prioritize 608 of these FCCs for further assessment and substitution in FCMs and FCAs.
Food contact materials (FCMs) are used to make food contact articles (FCAs) that come into contact with food and beverages during, for example, processing, storing, packaging, or consumption. The chemicals within these FCMs and FCAs are known as food contact chemicals (FCCs), and they can contaminate food when they migrate from the materials into the food. Some FCCs are known to be hazardous. However, the universe of FCCs that are used to produce many different types of FCMs/FCAs is complex and largely not well mapped, because information on chemical structures, use patterns, and migration potentials of FCCs is often absent or scattered across multiple sources. Therefore, the Food Packaging Forum has developed the Food Contact Chemicals Database (FCCdb) to gather and publicly share available information on FCCs. The FCCdb is a deliverable within the ongoing Food Contact Chemicals and Human Health (FCCH) Project led by the Food Packaging Forum.
A scientific article in the peer-reviewed journal Environment International provides detailed information about the methodology used the create the database, as well as results from an analysis of the data collected. The article is open access and can be freely read by all.
The FCCdb is freely downloadable and searchable as a Microsoft Excel file from the Zenodo repository. The list of 608 identified priority FCCs can be downloaded from the scientific article’s supplementary information as a separate Microsoft Excel file.
The most current version of the database is shown (version 5.0), and any future updates to the database will be released onto the same platform. The database has been released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 license. This allows it to be freely shared and adapted for non-commercial purposes as long as appropriate credit is given. See the Frequently Asked Questions below for more information.
A tutorial video (shown on the right) has been created that guides users through locating information on chemicals they are interested in within the database. It also explains core aspects of the methodology behind the database’s structure.
The database has also been integrated into the NORMAN Suspect List Exchange (SLE), where a version of the database has been created with structural information added for each included chemical where available.
Be sure to read through the journal article published in Environment International. It provides a comprehensive overview of the methodology used as well as a detailed discussion of results identified by the study. Additional supplementary data are also provided and downloadable directly from the journal’s website.
The FCCdb has been released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 license. It can be freely shared and adapted for non-commercial purposes only. Please consult the license page for guidance on requirements for appropriate legal attribution. In all works that reference the FCCdb, please cite both the FCCdb Zenodo repository as well as the Environment International journal article:
Ksenia Groh, Birgit Geueke, & Jane Muncke. (2020). FCCdb: Food Contact Chemicals database. [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3240108
Groh, K et al. (2020) “Overview of intentionally used food contact chemicals and their hazards.” Environment International, DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2020.106225
We aim to update the database periodically in the future, however exact timelines are not yet finalized. Accurate curation of such a complex international dataset requires significant time and resources. We will provide information about new database versions on this web page.
Please send us an email: info@fp-forum.org. We appreciate constructive feedback and will respond to you as soon as we are able.
Groh K., Geueke B., Martin O., Maffini M., and Muncke J. 2020,Environment International; DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2020.106225
Groh K., Geueke B., and Muncke J. 2020, Zenodo; DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4296944
