Nanomaterials in food packaging: An overview of regulatory frameworks and migration assessment

Abstract

Nanotechnologies hold significant promise for supporting the design of advanced food packaging materials with tunable properties. However, this potential is limited by an important knowledge gap about the migration of nanoparticles from the packaging material into food. So far, accurately measuring specific migration remains a major challenge. Current analytical methods mainly focus on inorganic systems such as metal and metal oxide nanomaterials. In contrast, the migration of organic nanomaterials is usually assessed through broad, non-specific overall migration measurements, which do not provide key data on the transfer of the nano-objects themselves. This review critically addresses this gap by: (1) systematically examining the migration behavior of inorganic, organic, and hybrid nanomaterials in food packaging; (2) evaluating the strengths and limitations of current analytical techniques for their detection and measurement; and (3) analyzing regulatory frameworks. The findings of this work highlight the existing analytical techniques as insufficient for tracking the specific migration of nanoscale organic materials from food contact materials (FCM). It also emphasizes the urgent need for unified analytical methods, reliable predictive models, and adaptable regulatory oversight to connect innovation with safety in nanotechnology-based food packaging materials.