BfR hosts symposium on mineral oil contamination from food packaging

The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) has held an international symposium to discuss developments and solutions for mineral oil contamination of food from recycled packaging materials.

Representatives from industry, science and business discussed ways in which contamination could be lowered, including technical solutions such as plastic coatings barriers and interior lining bags. In addition, researchers presented a new analytical method for detecting the mineral oil contents in food which, unlike the previously available test, can be carried out at food inspection facilities.

This method has been developed by the BfR in cooperation with the Laboratory of the Canton of Zurich, which has also devised a method development kit to assist interested laboratories in setting up the analysis procedure.