Photoinitiators: a food safety review

Abstract

Ultraviolet light printing inks are considered safer than the classical inks; however, despite being on the outer surface of the packaging material, their components can migrate into foodstuffs and can give rise to contamination. Photoinitiators are a part of the formulation of printing inks, being an important class of migrant, for which there have been more than 100 incidents of contamination of packaged food with photoinitiators reported through Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) alerts in the European Union. In this review the process of photo-polymerisation is explained in depth to provide an insight into the complexity of the process, and the diversity of potential contaminants together with their degradation products. The critical factors affecting the migration process itself are reviewed, together with analytical methods and the current legislation in the European Union and other parts of the world.

Keywords:

• photoinitiator
• photo-polymerisation process
• migration
• food safety
• food contact materials

Additional information

Funding

The study was financially supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad [reference number AGL/2011-26531 ‘MIGRATIN’]. The authors are grateful to the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad for the Predoctoral fellowship FPI [reference number BES-2012-051993] awarded to Miguel Ángel Lago. Raquel Sendón is grateful to the ‘Parga Pondal’ programme financed by the Consellería de Innovación e Industria, Xunta de Galicia for her postdoctoral contract.