Introduction
It is well known that food contact materials (FCMs) and food contact articles (FCAs) are a source of human chemical exposure, since food contact chemicals (FCCs) migrate from packaging and other FCAs into food. But how relevant are these exposures to human health?
There are several aspects within this topic that are currently less understood, namely the different types of FCCs humans are exposed to and how they are associated with adverse human health outcomes. Together with thirteen project partners representing a range of cross-cutting expertise, the Food Packaging Forum initiated the FCCH project to map the existing scientific evidence on:
- which chemicals migrate and are extractable from food contact materials and articles,
- which FCCs humans are known to be exposed to, and
- how these FCCs are associated with chronic diseases in humans.
Project Structure
The FCCH project is organized into three parts with key questions associated with each:
Part 1:
- What FCCs are known to be used/authorized for use in food contact materials (FCMs) and articles (FCAs)?
- For which FCCs is there evidence for migration and/or extraction from FCMs and FCAs?
Part 2:
- For which FCCs is there evidence for human exposure from biomonitoring studies?
Part 3:
- How are FCCs that humans are exposed to associated with adverse human health outcomes?
Timeline and Team
Timeline
The FCCH project began in August 2018 and runs through 2022.
Core Team
Justin Boucher, Food Packaging Forum, Switzerland
Yu-Ting Chiang, Wayne State University, USA
Birgit Geueke, Food Packaging Forum, Switzerland
Ksenia Groh, Food Packaging Forum, Switzerland
Chris Kassotis, Wayne State University, USA
Paulina Lanska, Brunel University, UK
Maricel Maffini, Independent Consultant, USA
Olwenn Martin, Brunel University, UK
Jane Muncke (Project Manager), Food Packaging Forum, Switzerland
Lisa Zimmermann, Food Packaging Forum, Switzerland
Scientific Advisory Group
Jonathan Chevrièr, McGill University, Canada
Barbara Demeneix, CNRS (French National Research Center), France
Jean-Baptiste Fini, CNRS (French National Research Center), France
Jane Houlihan, Healthy Babies, Bright Futures, USA
Pete Myers, Environmental Health Sciences, USA
Alex Odermatt, University of Basel, Switzerland
Katie Pelch, University of North Texas, USA
Rob Sargis, University of Illinois, USA
Verena Schreier, University of Basel, Switzerland
Leo Trasande, New York University, USA
Laura Vandenberg, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA
Martin Wagner, Norwegian Technical University Trøndheim, NO
Software Development
Frank Gwosdz, entrepre.nerds, Germany
Phoenix Jieh, Switzerland
Lindsey Parkinson, Food Packaging Forum, Switzerland
Funding
The project has been financially supported in part by The Plastic Solutions Fund, the MAVA Foundation, Fondation Valery, Sympany Foundation, and is also funded by Food Packaging Forum’s core funding.
Updates and Publications
Key project results within each of the three parts of the project are planned for publication as open source documents.
December 23, 2018:
Protocol for systematic mapping (Part 1) published.
Martin, O. et al. (2018). “Protocol for a systematic map of the evidence of migrating and extractable chemicals from food contact articles.” doi:10.5281/zenodo.2525277
March 3, 2020:
Consensus statement published.
Muncke, J. et al. (2020). “Impacts of food contact chemicals on human health: a consensus statement.” Environmental Health 25(29). doi:10.1186/s12940-020-0572-5
November 30, 2020:
Scientific study on food contact chemicals database (FCCdb) published.
Groh, K. et al. (2020) “Overview of intentionally used food contact chemicals and their hazards.” Environmental Health. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2020.106225
Database of food contact chemicals (FCCdb) published. Read more about and access the database on its resource page.
Groh K et al. (2020) “FCCdb: Food Contact Chemicals database.” doi: 10.5281/zenodo.3240108
May 3, 2021:
Update on project’s progress with preliminary results.
Geueke, B. et al. (2021). “What are the chemicals that migrate of are extractable from food contact plastics?” Presentation at SETAC Europe, Session 7.03 Global Plastic Contamination: a journey towards scientifically informed policies and solutions.
