Identifying Food Packaging Migrants: Current Analytical Capabilities, Challenges, and Future Prospects.

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Food Safety Science
• Materials Science

Background:

• Chemical migration from food packaging poses risks to consumer health.
• Accurate identification of intentionally and non-intentionally added substances (IAS/NIAS) is essential for food safety.
• Current analytical methods face challenges in comprehensively identifying diverse chemical migrants.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and critically evaluate recent advancements in analytical workflows for identifying chemical migrants from food packaging.
• To discuss evolving data analysis strategies, from targeted to non-targeted screening.
• To identify bottlenecks and propose future directions for improved migrant identification.

Main Methods:

• Review of recent literature on analytical techniques for food packaging migrants.
• Critical evaluation of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS).
• Assessment of advanced techniques like comprehensive two-dimensional GC (GC×GC), high-resolution filtering (HRF), and ion mobility spectrometry (IMS).

Main Results:

• Recent analytical workflows show enhanced capabilities for migrant identification.
• Advanced techniques like GC×GC, HRF, and IMS offer improved separation and isomeric resolution.
• Data analysis strategies are evolving towards more comprehensive screening approaches.
• Scarcity of reference standards and spectral libraries remains a significant bottleneck.

Conclusions:

• Synergistic integration of analytical techniques, databases, and machine learning is promising for future IAS/NIAS identification.
• Combining chemical analysis with bioassays can help prioritize hazardous chemicals.
• Improved analytical strategies are vital for enhancing the safety evaluation of food packaging materials.