MIGRATION STUDIES ON SOME SELECTED COMMERCIAL PLASTICS PACKAGING MATERIALS FOR FOOD CONTACT APPLICATIONS

Commercial plastics materials used for food packaging applications were evaluated by migration tests to assess the suitability for food packaging. The tests were carried out as per the conditions prescribed by the Bureau of Indian Standards and the Food and Drug Administration (USA). Most of the tested materials had overall migration values within the specified limits. In case of some pigmented packaging materials, there was, however, the problem of leaching of colour. The PVC-based materials had the problem of odour. The uses of stretch blown polyester and PVC bottles appear to be limited to room temperature filling and storage due to appreciable shrinkage at temperatures greater than 60-degrees-C.