ABSTRACT
Innovations in plastics packaging dominate the food packaging news. They also raise many questions about food-package interactions. Substances shown to become components of food, or which may reasonably be expected to become components of food as a result of their use in food packaging, are considered as indirect food additives and legally require premarket safety approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). With all of the innovations taking place in plastics packaging, the FDA is critically evaluating recent work in migration testing to decide whether existing test protocols can be improved to provide more appropriate migration estimates for foods packaged in these new structures. In order for the potential exposure to 2,4-toluenediamine to approach dietary levels that might pass risk assessment, migration levels to food simulants or the limit of measurement for 2,4-toluenediamine would need to be no greater than around 1 ppb.
