FCCmigex Database | Food Packaging Forum (2024)

The interactive tool above allows you to search and filter the data on food contact chemicals (FCCs) that have been measured in the migrates and extracts of many different food contact materials (FCMs) and articles (FCAs). There are two separate views within the tool: (1) the data view and (2) the references view.

In the data view, you are shown aggregated information on an almost countless number of questions related to FCCs, FCMs, FCAs, and beyond. Here are a few examples of possible questions that are answered by selecting the appropriate filters in the tool:

• How often has a food contact chemical been detected in a food contact material?
• How many food contact chemicals have been measured per different food contact materials?
• Which food contact chemical has been most frequently detected in repeat-use food contact articles?
• How many references have reported about migration experiments for a food contact chemical?
• Which food contact chemicals have never been detected although they were investigated?

The reference view shows you which published studies are the source of the data. In the reference view, you can apply the same search and selection criteria as in the data view. There is also the option to search for authors and title keywords. The list of references shown summarizes all relevant sources that provide information about the filtered criteria. Example questions you can answer in this view are:

• In which studies has a specific food contact chemical been measured?
• Which references have addressed only single-use food contact articles and tested them in extraction experiments?
• Which studies have investigated chemical migration into food for a specific food contact material?
• When have studies on a specific chemical been published?

The DOI or another URL is included for most articles to quickly link to the underlying references. At the moment, the complete or filtered reference lists cannot be exported.

The FCCmigex database contains over 20’000 database entries. Database entries can be thought of as rows in a large table.

Each database entry refers to a food contact chemical that was identified in a specific reference. A database entry also tells us in which food contact material and food contact article this food contact chemical was investigated. Finally, each entry is linked to information about the experimental setup and whether the chemical was detected or not. Therefore, the most important columns in the table of database entries have the following headings: Reference | Food Contact Chemical | Food Contact Material | Food Contact Article | Type of Experiment | Evidence of Detection

The number of database entries per reference varies greatly. For example, a reference which reports only one food contact chemical that was measured in one sample and using only one experimental setup will have just 1 database entry. But a reference that includes multiple material samples and applies untargeted analyses can generate several hundred database entries.

It is also important to note that multiple database entries can sometimes differ only by the reference if the experiments in the referenced studies were designed similarly.

For some investigated food contact chemicals, we could not assign a CAS number during the screening process. In the interactive tool, we have only included food contact chemicals where a CAS number could be identified or for those FCCs that are mineral oil hydrocarbons, paraffins, or a few other common mixtures. As a consequence, the total number of database entries and references is lower in the interactive tool than the reported total numbers in the peer-reviewed article published in the journal Critical Reviews in Food Science. Please contact the Food Packaging Forum if you are interested in information on FCCs without CAS numbers.

In the future, we may still make small edits to the underlying data of the interactive tool to improve consistency which might lead to minor changes in absolute numbers.

It is easiest and most reliable to search for the exact CAS number of the food contact chemical you are interested in. Many chemicals have synonyms that may not be found in the FCCmigex database when searching just by the chemical name. Please be aware, that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are listed under the name and CAS number of the free acid, not the salt(s).

Saturated mineral hydrocarbons (MOSH) and aromatic mineral hydrocarbons (MOAH) are the only chemical mixtures that have been included in the FCCmigex database and that do not have a CAS number. This was decided based on the high number of migration and extraction studies published on these chemical groups. The database does not include information on other poorly-defined chemical mixtures.

If you cannot find a chemical in the database for which you have evidence that it has been measured in FCMs and/or FCAs, please let us know. Currently, the FCCmigex database includes studies published until June 2021. For more information on how the literature was searched and screened, see the published journal article.

In all works that reference the FCCmigex database, please cite both the Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition journal article as well as this website:

Geueke B, Groh KJ, Maffini MV, Martin OV, Boucher JM, Chiang YT, Gwosdz F, Jieh P, Kassotis CD, Lanska P, Myers JP, Odermatt A, Parkinson LV, Schreier VN, Srebny V, Zimmermann L, Scheringer M and Muncke J (2022) “Systematic Evidence on migrating and extractable Food Contact Chemicals: Most Chemicals detected in Food Contact Materials are not listed for Use” Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2022.2067828

Food Packaging Forum Foundation (2022) “FCCmigex Database.” https://foodpackagingforum.org/fccmigex

For additional questions not answered here or in the journal article, please send us an email: info@fp-forum.org. We will respond to you as soon as we are able.

For suggestions, we appreciate constructive feedback to help us improve the database and tool. Please fill out this short survey to share your thoughts with us.