Food safety authorities and the food industry are focused on uses of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in various food‐contact packaging applications. Not widely known until recently, certain PFAS occur in paper‐based packaging materials typically at parts‐per‐billion to parts‐per‐million concentrations. These substances are nonintentionally added substances (NIAS) and are attributed to residues from recycled fiber and paperboard used in the manufacture of new food packaging products. Low concentration PFAS detection has generated debate in the food industry and among scientific and governmental organizations about understanding their significance in food‐contact products because certain PFAS are intentionally added to some food packaging materials. Distinguishing between both sources of PFAS in food packaging is essential for regulatory compliance purposes. In this paper, we describe ongoing research using contact angle measurement analysis to determine limits of performance (LOP) for perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs) (C4, C6, C8, and C10) on the surface of recycled paper packaging materials. We find that the LOP concentrations for PFCAs ranged from 37 ppm (C10) to higher than 1238 ppm (C4). Because there is no economic justification for the presence of PFAS that do not provide functional performance, these LOP concentrations can reliably be considered as NIAS thresholds. This analytical method and the resulting test data are able to differentiate the source of PFAS in food packaging. Future research will broaden the test method to include measurements of fluorotelomer, sulfonamide, and fluoropolymer substances to develop a more comprehensive understanding of PFAS performance and NIAS concentration thresholds. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2021;17:7–12. © 2020 SETAC

中文翻译：

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全氟烷基物质（PFAS）在食品包装中的意义。

食品安全当局和食品工业集中于全氟烷基物质（PFAS）在各种食品接触包装应用中的使用。直到最近才广为人知，某些PFAS存在于纸制包装材料中，浓度通常为十亿分之一到百万分之几。这些物质是非故意添加的物质（NIAS），归因于用于生产新食品包装产品的回收纤维和纸板的残留物。低浓度PFAS检测已引起食品行业以及科学和政府组织之间关于了解其在食品接触产品中重要性的争论，因为某些食品包装材料中有意添加了某些PFAS。区分食品包装中PFAS的两种来源对于合规性至关重要。在本文中，我们描述了使用接触角测量分析来确定再生纸包装材料表面上全氟羧酸（PFCA）（C4，C6，C8和C10）的性能极限（LOP）的正在进行的研究。我们发现，PFCA的LOP浓度范围从37 ppm（C10）到高于1238 ppm（C4）。由于存在不提供功能性能的PFAS的经济依据，因此这些LOP浓度可以可靠地视为NIAS阈值。这种分析方法和所得的测试数据能够区分食品包装中PFAS的来源。未来的研究将扩大测试方法的范围，包括对氟调聚物，磺酰胺，Integr环境评估管理2021; 17：7-12。©2020 SETAC