A risk classification strategy for migrants of food contact material combined with three (Q)SAR tools in silico

The chemical constituents in food contact materials (FCMs) may transfer into food during the contact, which may pose potential risk to humans. So, it is important to evaluate the safety of FCMs. Due to the advantages of costeffectiveness and high throughput, (Q)SAR tools have been gradually used for risk assessment. In this work, a risk classification strategy for migrants of food contact materials combined with three (Q)SAR tools was developed based on a single endpoint (Mutagenicity) assessment and risk matrix approach, respectively. 419 migrants existing in a self-built toxicology database beneficial from Python crawler technology were evaluated. 5 toxic hazard ranks and 4 risk ranks were obtained for single endpoint assessment and risk matrix respectively, with 21 substances assigned as Toxic hazard Class I and 43 substances assigned as RISK I which need the highest safety concern. Besides, for the Toxic hazard Class I substances assessed by the single endpoint, 19 of them were confirmed experimentally, and all of them were overlapped in the RISK I substances, which suggests the effectiveness and reliability of this strategy.

Automated summary

This study developed a risk classification strategy using (Q)SAR tools and a toxicology database to evaluate the safety levels of 419 migrants in food contact materials. The results showed 21 substances classified as Toxic hazard Class I and 43 substances as RISK I which require the highest safety concern.