Friday, May 29, 2009

A RadTech member received a question regarding the inclusion of benzophenone in a coating used to protect the surface of a label.

While indirect food contact was not specifically mentioned, I'm sure that's the issue. If I visit the website below, I find benzophenone on the GRAS list and accepted for direct food contact CFR21 172.515 http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/eafus.html

This is more a question of whether the benzophenone might affect the flavor and/or odor of the packaged product than food safety. Not only FDA, but also the European authorities have determined that benzophenone is safe in food. Assuming that the customer's product is not affected by the odor of benzophenone, the small amount of benzophenone that could migrate into packaged food from the label should not be a health issue. The RadTech member page has a link to analyses of typical migration of benzophenone into food. A calculation also can be done to estimate the magnitude of the migration and confirm the health safety.
Flavor and odor are another question. Benzophenone should not be used in packaging for chocolate, for example. Chocolate picks up off flavors very easily and would be affected by even the smallest traces of benzophenone. Benzophenone and any other highly odorous materials must be avoided in such cases.
In summary, it is best to ask the customer what they are packaging and confirm ahead of time that the benzophenone is not a problem for their particular application. You can show them the FDA and EU positive clearances and typical migration analyses if they want more information. If they still are not comfortable with it, take BPO out of the formulation; it will be a continuing concern and may come back to haunt you if the customer later has problems that they decide to blame on BPO.

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