Packaging has become an indispensable element in the food manufacturing process, and different types of additives, such as antioxidants, stabilisers, lubricants, anti-static and anti-blocking agents, have also been developed to improve the performance of polymeric packaging materials. Recently, the packaging has been found to represent a source of contamination itself through the migration of substances from packaging into food. Various analytical method shave been developed to analyse the migrants in the foodstuff, and migration evaluation procedures based on theoretical prediction of migration from plastic food contact material were also introduced recently. In this paper, the regulatory control, analytical methodology, factors affecting the migration and migration evaluation are reviewed.
