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Background The safe use of recycled paper and cardboard material for food packaging applications is an important area of investigation. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine which hazardous chemi- cal pollutants were found in paper and cardboard samples used for pastry packaging, and to measure the migration of pollutants over time into the pastries. Methods In this study, the presence of some organic pollutants in common confectionery packaging, and the effects of storage time and type of pastry on pollutant migration, were investigated. Results The results of the study indicate that harmful compounds such as benzophenone, pentachlorophenol, bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and dibutyl phthalate are present at high concentrations in most recycled boxes used for pastry packaging. Conclusions Since the migration of some of the hazardous compounds from the packaging materials into the pastries under normal conditions was indicated, it is recommended that the procedure for preparing pastry packaging materials should be reconsidered and improved.

The migration of five different photoinitiators from kraft paper to two fatty food simulants, Tenax(®) and 95% ethanol, was investigated under different conditions. The effects of temperature and storage time, as well as the physicochemical properties of the photoinitiators on migration, were discussed. Mathematical models based on Fick's second law generated from two cases, single- and two-side contacts, were applied to predict the migration behaviour from the paper to the food simulants. The partition coefficients estimated from the model decreased with temperature. The diffusion coefficients of the selected photoinitiators from the paper ranged from 1.55 × 10(-10) to 7.54 × 10(-9) cm(2) s(-1) for Tenax and from 2.79 × 10(-9) to 8.03 × 10(-8) cm(2) s(-1) for 95% ethanol. The results indicate that the applied model can predict the migration of photoinitiators in the initial short period before equilibrium, and the migration from paper to Tenax through a single-side contact demonstrated an especially high concordance.

The capability of a polypropylene (PP) film barrier to prevent migration of residual contaminants from recycled paperboard into food simulants was studied. Anthracene, benzophenone, methyl stearate and pentachlorophenol were chosen as chemical surrogates to represent classes of contaminants likely to be found in recycled paper/paperboard. Each surrogate was spiked into a test specimen made of seven thin virgin paper layers at concentrations of 1-50 mg kg(-1). Test specimen were dried, stacked and sandwiched with PP films, laminated with PP film and then subjected to migration experiments using a compression cell maintained at 100 degrees C for 2 h. The concentration of the surrogates in the test specimen and in 95% ethanol, isopropanol and 10% ethanol food-simulating solvents was determined by gas chromatography with flame ionization and electron capture detection. The results show that although the concentrations of the surrogates in the food simulants decreased with an increase in PP film thickness, they were still high and generally resulted in dietary concentrations >0.5 microg kg(-1), the level that US Food and Drug Administration would equate with negligible risk for a contaminant migrating from food packaging. Only at the lowest spiking level (1 mg kg(-1) benzophenone) did migration from the paperboard through a 0.127-mm PP film result in a dietary concentration of

1. The aim of this study was to establish an experimental model of the escape phenomenon, in which plasma cholesterol, initially reduced by a 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitor such as pravastatin, increases again on long-term administration. We also evaluated the efficacy of YM-53601 ((E)-2-[2-fluoro-2- (quinuclidin-3-ylidene) ethoxy]-9H-carbazole monohydrochloride), a squalene synthase inhibitor, in this model. 2. Pravastatin inhibited cholesterol biosynthesis in hamster primary hepatocytes (IC(50), 14 nM). After pre-treatment with pravastatin, in contrast, almost no effect on cholesterol biosynthesis was seen. 3. In hamsters fed a high fat diet, 3 mg kg(-1) pravastatin for 9 days decreased plasma non-HDL cholesterol (total cholesterol - high density lipoprotein cholesterol) (P0.01), but this effect was lost between 17 and 27 days of treatment, accompanied by an increase in HMG-CoA reductase activity. No such increase in plasma non-HDL cholesterol was seen with YM-53601 at 30 mg kg(-1) after 9 (P0.001), 17 (P0.01) or 27 (P0.001) days of treatment. Replacement of pravastatin with YM-53601 caused a decrease in plasma non-HDL cholesterol by 53% (P0.001) and in HMG-CoA reductase activity. 4. This animal model thus satisfactorily replicates the escape phenomenon observed in humans and may therefore be useful in evaluation of lipid-lowering agents, specifically comparison of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors. Further, YM-53601 may be useful in the treatment of hypercholesterolemia without induction of the escape phenomenon.

An experimental study was carried out to establish whether the draft EEC method for the determination of the global migration of constituents from plastics packaging materials into fatty food stimulants could be applied to all plastics, including lacquers and laminates. Some difficulties were encountered in the use of the EEC method for melamine, for hotmelt-coated packaging materials and for laminates containing one or more layers of materials sensitive to moisture, such as paper, cardboard or regenerated cellulose film. Chemicals/CAS: cellulose, 61991-22-8, 68073-05-2, 9004-34-6; melamine, 108-78-1, 25778-04-5; Dietary Fats; Plastics

An experimental study was carried out to establish whether the draft EEC method for the determination of the global migration of constituents from plastics packaging materials into fatty food stimulants could be applied to all plastics, including lacquers and laminates. Some difficulties were encountered in the use of the EEC method for melamine, for hotmelt-coated packaging materials and for laminates containing one or more layers of materials sensitive to moisture, such as paper, cardboard or regenerated cellulose film. Chemicals/CAS: cellulose, 61991-22-8, 68073-05-2, 9004-34-6; melamine, 108-78-1, 25778-04-5; Dietary Fats; Plastics

Summary All procedures currently used to evaluate the total migration of components from packaging materials into fat-releasing foodstuffs are based on the determination of the weight of a sample of the packaging material before and after its storage in a test fat under standard conditions, a correction being applied for the residual fat retained in/on the sample. The latter may be determined by physical or chemical methods, the calculation being based in most cases on a single component of the triglyceride mixture that has migrated into the sample. With most test fats, differential migration of the individual components of the fat into and incomplete extraction of the absorbed fat from the test polymer are serious sources of error. Fewer problems are associated with the use of 14C-labelled HB 307 as the fat simulant and this method has now been developed to a high degree of accuracy for use with all types of plastics, including the highly cross-linked and insoluble types. Following a description of the revised method and its development, the additional difficulties encountered in the determination of total migration from cardboard/plastics composites are discussed.