Non-listed Nias Exposure Assessment: Comparison of Different Tools

Abstract

Food contact materials (FCMs) can contain Non-intentionally added substances (NIAS) as a result of break down, side product or impurities. NIAS can migrate into food and this might cause a risk for human health. Thus, their presence has to be evaluated, but currently there are no protocols to establish how to perform a risk assessment. Then, in this work, three different strategies to make a NIAS exposure assessment were compared: the European Food Agency Authority (EFSA) food consumption database, the Matrix Tool and the FACET tool. 2,4-Di-tert-butylphenol (2,4-DTB), an identified and quantified NIAS, was used as the case study. Differences between these tools were highlighted, but for all the strategies tested the estimated exposure to 2,4-DTB was lower than its threshold value indicating that there are no risk for the consumers.