MINOILS" project: Evaluation of the potential contamination of bag-in-box foodstuffs by mineral oils

The contamination of food products packaged in "bag'in box" packaging systems, i.e. combining a carton case or crate and a plastic bag, by mineral oils derived from recycled fibers, was revealed in 2010-2011 by a German BFR study and was the subject of communication.

No regulations currently exist on acceptable quantities of these mineral oils in food products, however, in 2012, EFSA established recommendations based on an ADI of 0.01 mg/kg body weight, i.e. a limit in food of 0.6 mg/kg food.

One of the main results from the ANR project SafeFoodPack Design (SFPD) is a simplified model to describe substance transfers without direct contact. This project aims to validate a testing and modeling protocol based on these initial results from the ANR SFPD project on the potential contamination of food by mineral oils.

Migration kinetics of 15 model substances from paper/cardboard to Tenax® via polypropylene film at 20 and 40°C for up to several months were performed. These experimental results were used to extract missing transport and thermodynamic properties. The numerical model developed during the ANR SFPD project was applied to generate full kinetics as well as generic iso time (contamination x temperature x molecular mass) and iso contamination (time x temperature x molecular mass) charts.

These types of abacus could be extended to other types of materials and geometries, and would be useful for industrialists during the design phases of new materials and products. The results will also help to raise awareness among manufacturers and control authorities of these phenomena of indirect contamination of food by packaging materials.