title: Human exposure assessment of silver and copper migrating from an antimicrobial nanocoated packaging material into an acidic food simulant.
abstract: To examine the human exposure to a novel silver and copper nanoparticle (AgNP and CuNP)/polystyrene-polyethylene oxide block copolymer (PS-b-PEO) food packaging coating, the migration of Ag and Cu into 3% acetic acid (3% HAc) food simulant was assessed at 60 °C for 10 days. Significantly lower migration was observed for Ag (0.46 mg/kg food) compared to Cu (0.82 mg/kg food) measured by inductively coupled plasma - atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). In addition, no distinct population of AgNPs or CuNPs were observed in 3% HAc by nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The predicted human exposure to Ag and Cu was used to calculate a margin of exposure (MOE) for ionic species of Ag and Cu, which indicated the safe use of the food packaging in a hypothetical scenario (e.g. as fruit juice packaging). While migration exceeded regulatory limits, the calculated MOE suggests current migration limits may be conservative for specific nano-packaging applications.
authors.affiliation: School of Biosystems and Food Engineering, Agriculture and Food Science Centre, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
authors.forename: Joseph Christopher
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Hannon
authors.affiliation: Food Packaging Group, School of Food & Nutritional Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: Joseph P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Kerry
authors.affiliation: Food Packaging Group, School of Food & Nutritional Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: Malco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cruz-Romero
authors.affiliation: Food Packaging Group, School of Food & Nutritional Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland; School of Food Science and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Shafrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Azlin-Hasim
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland; AMBER, CRANN, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.affiliation: School of Biosystems and Food Engineering, Agriculture and Food Science Centre, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. Electronic address: enda.cummins@ucd.ie.
authors.forename: Enda
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cummins
mesh_terms: D019342:Acetic Acid / Q000737:chemistry*; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D003300:Copper / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis; D018857:Food Packaging; D064088:Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points; D006801:Humans; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D036103:Nanotechnology; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012834:Silver / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D011108:Polymers; D012834:Silver; D003300:Copper; D019342:Acetic Acid
keywords: Coating; Food packaging; Human exposure assessment; Migration; Nanoparticle; Nanoparticle tracking analysis