Surface Migration Tests

Especially in terms of food safety, materials in contact with food create serious problems. Packaging and migration from packaging materials is an issue that is followed seriously in the food industry. Food products placed in a package are in contact with the package surface in various ways until they reach the consumer. Today, a wide variety of materials with different properties are used in packaging production. These materials cause the transition of some chemicals to the food products they preserve at varying rates. This transition is called migration.

In general, there are two types of migration limits.

• The total migration limit is the highest allowable limit of non-volatile substances that pass from the material to the food products.
• The specific migration limit is the maximum permissible limit of a given substance passing from material to food products.

In the migration tests carried out in advanced laboratories, harmful substances transferred from the packaging to the food products are detected. In general, the standard considered in these tests is the EN 1186 standard, which is a European standard.

The standard in question consists of various sub-sections under the main heading of "Materials and objects in contact with foodstuffs - Plastics":

• Part 1: Guidance on the selection of conditions and test methods for general migration
• Part 2: Test methods for general migration into olive oil by full immersion
• Part 3: Test methods for general migration into aqueous food simulants by complete immersion
• Part 4: Test methods for general migration by cell into olive oil
• Part 5: Test methods for general migration by cell to aqueous food analogs
• Part 6: Test methods for general migration into olive oil using a pouch
• Part 7: Test methods for general migration to aqueous simulants using a pouch
• Chapter 8: Test methods for general migration into olive oil by product filling
• Part 9: Test methods for general migration into aqueous food simulants by product stuffing
• Chapter 10: Test methods for general migration into olive oil (modified method for use where incomplete olive oil extraction occurs)
• Part 11: Test methods for general migration into mixtures of C-label synthetic triglycerides
• Chapter 12: Test methods for general migration at low temperatures
• Part 13: Test methods for general migration at elevated temperatures
• Part 14: Test methods for “substitution tests” for general migration from plastics intended to come into contact with fatty foodstuffs using test medium iso-octane and 95% ethanol
• Chapter 15: Alternative test methods for migration to fatty food simulants by rapid extraction into iso-octane and/or 95% ethanol

Our organization also provides surface migration testing services with its trained and expert staff and advanced technological equipment, among the numerous test, measurement, analysis and evaluation studies it provides for businesses in various sectors.