Critical Survey of Predictive Mathematical Models for Migration from Packaging

• Published in: Critical reviews in food science and nutrition Vol. 48; no. 10; pp. 913 - 928
• Main Authors: Pocas, Maria, Oliveira, Jorge, Oliveira, Fernanda A.R, Hogg, Timothy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Colchester Taylor & Francis Group 01-11-2008; Taylor & Francis; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Diffusion; diffusion coefficient; Fick's law; Food Contamination - analysis; Food industries; Food packaging; Food Packaging - instrumentation; Food safety; Food science; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; Handling, storage, packaging, transport; literature reviews; Mathematical models; model validation; Models, Theoretical; packaging materials; packaging materials migration; Parameter estimation; partition coefficient; plastic film; plastic packaging; Polymers - chemistry; probabilistic models; plastic packaging; Migration; Partition coefficient; probabilistic models; Survey; Surveillance; Packaging; Probabilistic model; Conditioning; Diffusion coefficient; Plastics; Mathematical model; Fick's law
• ISSN: 1040-8398; 1549-7852
• DOI: 10.1080/10408390701761944

The migration of chemicals from food contact materials into foods is an important issue in food safety. The assessment of materials compliance with regulations includes migration monitoring for many monomers and additives. However, it is recognized that predictive mathematical modelling can be used in many cases, to avoid or to reduce the effort on migration experiments. This article reviews the approaches followed to apply mathematical models to migration, particularly the models used, the approaches to estimate model parameters, and the systems used to experimentally validate the models. Conclusions on the issues requiring further research are drawn.