If you suffer from a gluten allergy (celiac disease), the use of biobased and biodegradable materials containing wheat or rye can pose a risk. Currently there is a regulatory gap, as the legislation on food contact materials (FCMs) does not require allergen labelling.
German researchers analysed different types of FCM containing gluten: cutlery, three straws, a plate and a wafer cup. It turned out that materials with wheat bran in particular released gluten.
Contact time critical
The materials were analysed when used for both gluten-free liquids and solid foods. Due to the very short contact time and contact areas, it was not possible to detect gluten migration from the tested cutlery.
On the other hand, gluten was transferred from the other materials to both liquids and solids. In particular, the contact time with the material was critical for migration, i.e. the longer the contact time, the more gluten migrated from the material to the food, while temperature and pH had no effect. Materials with wheat bran showed the most migration of gluten.
A detailed review of the study can be found in the article Gluten migration from biodegradable food contact materials poses a risk to celiac disease patients.
To learn more about food contact materials and migration of substances, please contact:
Helle Buchardt Boyd
hbb@dhigroup.com
Tel +45 4516 9097
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