The real or perceived health safety of food packaging materials is currently the subject of much controversy. Plastic packaging in particular is at the heart of all criticism: a health crisis, of no end value, a source of endocrine disruptors, microplastics and marine waste. However, packaging is indispensable for food preservation and distribution..

There is indeed a convergence of regulatory pressure and societal pressure on risk management for food contact materials: less environmental impact and more health safety.

There is a need to develop rapid, robust methodologies for designing packaging that can verify complex and contradictory constraints: maximized food shelf life, minimization of packaging mass, maximization of recycled materials, minimal chemical risk, maximum mechanical resistance.

The computational tools developed within the team aim to prevent potential health crises for new products or products already on the market. They enable risk analysis and identification of critical points (materials, substances, contact conditions). Various evolutions of existing tools are currently being developed: three-dimensional transfer modeling, risk management in the presence of flows or repeated use. Deterministic modeling is increasingly being abandoned in favor of Bayesian or fully probabilistic formulations, enabling us to approximate as closely as possible the time and temperature conditions encountered by products during their life cycle (use, recycling, etc.).

The projects

"PackSafe" project: Integrated chemical safety assessment of food contact articles

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"FoodSafeBioPack" project: Evaluating and managing the migration of contaminants from cellulosic materials

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"ABA Modeling" project: modeling the migration of ABA trays into packaged foods

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Thesis "Development of analytical methods for the identification and quantification of NIAS"

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"FITNess" project: Food packaging open courseware for higher education and staff of companies

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"MINOILS" project: Evaluation of the potential contamination of food in a bag'in box by mineral oils

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"SafeFoodPackDesign" project: Rational design of safe food packaging

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Thesis "Engineering food packaging safety"

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List of scientific articles

Zhu, Y., P.-M. Nguyen, and O. Vitrac, Risk Assessment of Migration From Packaging Materials Into Food, in Reference Module in Food Science. 2019, Elsevier. p. 64.
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100596-5.22501-8
Nguyen, P.-M.; Dorey, S.; Vitrac, O. The Ubiquitous Issue of Cross-Mass Transfer: Applications to Single-Use Systems. Molecules. 2019, 24 (19), 3467.
https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24193467
Zhu Y, Guillemat B, Vitrac O. Rational Design of Packaging: Toward Safer and Ecodesigned Food Packaging Systems. Frontiers in Chemistry. 2019;7
https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2019.00349
Nguyen, P.-M.; Julien, J. M.; Breysse, C.; Lyathaud, C.; Thébault, J.; Vitrac, O. "Project SafeFoodPack Design: case study "indirect migration from paper and boards"." Food Additives and Contaminants: Part A, 2017, 34(10), 1703-1720.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19440049.2017.1315777
Nguyen, P.-M.; Goujon, A.; Sauvegrain, P.; Vitrac, O. A computer-aided methodology to design safe food packaging and related systems. AIChE Journal 2013, 59 (4), 1183-1212
https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.14056
Gillet, G.; Vitrac, O.; Tissier, D.; Saillard, P.; Desobry, S. Development of decision tools to assess migration from plastic materials in contact with food, Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A 2009, 26:12, 1556-1573.
https://doi.org/10.1080/19440040903271355