Modelling software picks up contamination risk from plastic additives

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Most supermarket produce comes encased in plastic, which may pose a potential health risk if plastic additives migrate onto the foodstuff. Now researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging, working with nine industrial partners in the EU project FOODMIGROSURE, have devised a mathematical model for quickly and easily determining levels of food contamination.

Currently it is very complex to determine if, and how much, additive has ended up on the food: random food samples have to be specially prepared and chemically tested in a laboratory. This is time consuming, and not very precise. Project coordinator Roland Franz claims the new procedure yields more reliable data.

The researchers based their mathematical model on analyses performed by the nine industrial collaborators, resulting in the world’s only systematic collection of such data.

On the basis of the data the researchers developed a number of models. One shows how the additives move about in the plastic. Another shows how many of these substances migrate from the plastic packaging material into the food at the contact surface. A third model describes how the additives disperse in the food itself.

These subsets have been combined into a single model that takes into account not only the structure of the foodstuff, such as its fat content and consistency, but also the type of plastic packaging material used, the various additives and the average quantity any individual is likely to consume.

The model is relevant for assessing packaging additives present in cheese, meat or orange juice. Franz claims the cost of computer-assisted testing is much lower than for a laboratory test, and the results are far more accurate.