FCCH Project
Food Contact Chemicals & Human Health Project
The Food Packaging Forum is systematically investigating the use and hazards of food contact chemicals, their migration into foods, presence in humans, and associated health effects
The Food Packaging Forum is systematically investigating the use and hazards of food contact chemicals, their migration into foods, presence in humans, and associated health effects
Food packaging and other food contact articles are a source of human exposure to chemicals. This is because many of the food contact chemicals (FCCs) that are present in food contact materials (FCMs) are not tightly bound within the material’s structure. FCCs can therefore migrate from food packaging and other food contact articles into the food we eat.
But how relevant are these exposures to human health? Which FCCs are humans known to be exposed to, and are these FCCs associated with adverse human health outcomes?
Together with renowned project partners representing a range of cross-cutting expertise, the Food Packaging Forum initiated the Food Contact Chemicals & Human Health (FCCH) Project to address these questions. In four project parts, we compile data on FCCs, systematically map the evidence, and make the results accessible to the public.
To answer these questions, we developed the Food Contact Chemicals Database (FCCdb). This database integrates 67 international FCC lists, including regulatory lists and industry inventories, and adds information from authoritative sources of hazard information. It contains more than 12,200 FCCs and has a global scope.
We systematically integrated the results of 1210 published scientific references describing migration and extraction experiments from food contact materials and articles. Based on these data, we compiled the Database on Migrating and Extractable Food Contact Chemicals (FCCmigex). The database contains more than 3000 different FCCs and over 20,000 entries.
We are currently investigating which FCCs have also been analyzed in humans. Detection of these chemicals in human samples provides evidence for exposure that may be attributable to food contact materials and articles.
(In Progress)
In the last part of the FCCH project, we will systematically investigate how the presence of different FCCs in the human body may be associated with adverse health effects.
(In Preparation)
Geueke B, Parkinson LV, Dolenc J, Groh KJ, Kassotis CD, Maffini MV, Martin OV, Zimmermann L, and Muncke M, 2022, Zenodo; DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7129728.
Schreier VN, Appenzeller-Herzop C, Brüschweiler BJ, Geueke B, Wilks MF, Simat TJ, Schilter B, Smieško M, Muncke J, Odermatt A, and Roth N. 2022, Journal of Hazardous Materials; DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2022.107387
Zimmermann L, Scheringer M, Geueke B, Boucher JM, Parkinson LV, Groh KJ and Muncke J 2022, Journal of Hazardous Materials; DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.129167
Geueke B, Groh KJ, Maffini MV, Martin OV, Boucher JM, Chiang YT, Gwosdz F, Jieh P, Kassotis CD, Lanska P, Myers JP, Odermatt A, Parkinson LV, Schreier VN, Srebny V, Zimmermann L, Scheringer M and Muncke J. 2022, Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition; DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2022.2067828
Gerassimidou S, Lanska P, Hahladakis JN, Lovat E, Vanzetto S, Geueke B, Groh KJ, Muncke J, Maffini M, Martin OV, and Iacovidou E. 2022, Journal of Hazardous Materials; DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.128410
Groh K, Geueke B, Martin O, Maffini M, and Muncke J 2021. Environment International; Volume 150, 106225, DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2020.106225
Groh K, Geueke B, and Muncke J. 2020, Zenodo, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3240108
Muncke J, Andersson A-M, Backhaus T, Boucher JM, Carney Almroth B, Castillo Castillo A, Chevrier J, Demeneix BA, Emmanuel JA, Fini J-B, Gee D, Geueke B, Groh K, Heindel JJ, Houlihan J, Kassotis CD, Kwiatkowski CF, Lefferts LY, Maffini MV, Martin OV, Myers JP, Nadal A, Nerin C, Pelch KE, Rojello Fernández S, Sargis RM, Soto AM, Trasande L, Vandenberg LN, Wagner M, Wu C, Zoeller RT and Scheringer M. 2020, Environmental Health; Volume 25(20), DOI: 10.1186/s12940-020-0572-5
Martin OV, Geueke B, Groh KJ, Chevrier J, Fini J-B, Houlihan J, Kassotis C, Myers P, Nagel SC, Pelch KE, Sargis RM, Trasande L, Vandenberg LN, Wagner M,; Maffini MV, and Muncke J. 2018, Zenodo, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.2525277
This project has been financially supported in part by The Plastic Solutions Fund, the MAVA Foundation, Fondation Valery, Sympany Foundation, and it is also funded by Food Packaging Forum’s unrestricted core funding.
More than 20 experts from different fields have contributed to the Food Contact Chemicals and Human Health Project so far. The table below recognizes all of these important collaborators and their roles across the different sub-projects.
The Core Team conceptualizes the project parts and works on their implementation. The Scientific Advisory Group supports the Core Team with advice during all parts of the project. Other specific contributions to the compilations of the two databases are also acknowledged.
Name | Core Team | Scientific Advisory Group | Compilation of the FCCdb | Compilation of the FCCmigex |
---|---|---|---|---|
Justin Boucher, Food Packaging Forum, Switzerland | • | |||
Jonathan Chevrièr, McGill University, Canada | • | |||
Yu-Ting Chiang, Wayne State University, USA | • | |||
Barbara Demeneix, CNRS (French National Research Center), France | • | |||
Jean-Baptiste Fini, CNRS (French National Research Center), France | • | |||
Birgit Geueke (Project Co-Lead), Food Packaging Forum, Switzerland | • | • | • | |
Ksenia Groh, Food Packaging Forum, Switzerland | • | • | • | |
Frank Gwosdz, entrepre.nerds, Germany | • | |||
Jane Houlihan, Healthy Babies, Bright Futures, USA | • | |||
Phoenix Jieh, Switzerland | • | |||
Chris Kassotis, Wayne State University, USA | • | • | ||
Paulina Lanska, Brunel University, UK | • | |||
Maricel Maffini, Independent Consultant, USA | • | • | • | |
Olwenn V. Martin, University College London, UK | • | • | • | |
Jane Muncke (Project Co-Lead), Food Packaging Forum, Switzerland | • | • | • | |
Pete Myers, Environmental Health Sciences, USA | • | • | ||
Alex Odermatt, University of Basel, Switzerland | • | • | ||
Lindsey Parkinson, Food Packaging Forum, Switzerland | • | |||
Katie Pelch, University of North Texas, USA | • | |||
Rob Sargis, University of Illinois, USA | • | |||
Vanessa Srebny, EMPA, Switzerland | • | |||
Verena Schreier, University of Basel, Switzerland | • | • | ||
Emma Schymanski, University of Luxembourg | • | |||
Leo Trasande, New York University, USA | • | |||
Laura Vandenberg, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA | • | |||
Martin Wagner, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway | • | |||
Lisa Zimmermann, Food Packaging Forum, Switzerland | • | • |
The Food Packaging Forum enables stakeholders to make better decisions by applying the latest science on chemicals in food contact materials and on the environmental impacts of food packaging. Through its independent, balanced, and science-based publications and tools, the Food Packaging Forum contributes to protecting human and environmental health.
Staffelstrasse 10
CH-8045 Zurich
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T: +41 44 515 52 55
info@fp-forum.org
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