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16.01.2018 - Analytics

Successful Reduction of Mineral Oil Residues

At the 17th Consumer Protection Forum of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), the successful measures taken by the food industry to minimize the entry of undesirable mineral oil hydrocarbons into food were praised. For example, mineral oil-containing recycled fiber components have been replaced with virgin fibers or are only used in combination with protective barriers. This includes the use of inner bags in folding cartons or innovative coated, migration-inhibiting paper and multilayer materials.

The issue with mineral oil-containing printing inks has also been addressed by only using low-migration printing inks for food packaging.

With the "BLL Toolbox for Avoiding Entries of Unwanted Mineral Oil Hydrocarbons in Food," practical help is also provided to food companies: it informs about the current state of knowledge, provides tips on analytics, and enables process and weak point analyses across the entire supply chain.

A national mineral oil regulation was deemed not sensible at the forum. Only a solution at the European level would be acceptable for the economy, and the previous demands would interfere too much with the markets.

A frequently demanded zero-tolerance cannot be maintained, as mineral oil hydrocarbons do not only enter food through migration from packaging containing recycled fibers and/or from packaging with mineral oil-containing printing inks. Another path of entry is unintentional contamination that can occur throughout the entire process chain. This can be explained by an environmentally-related baseline contamination of food raw materials with mineral oil hydrocarbons, e.g., through combustion processes (exhaust gases, emissions from industry, etc.) as well as fine dust from road traffic.

In our Tentamus laboratories, we routinely conduct chemical analyses. We provide you with fast and reliable results.

For inquiries, our customer advisors are at your disposal.

Source: www.bll.de, for further information on this topic, see also www.bfr.bund.de