This updated and revised edition of Plastic Packaging: Interactions with Food and Pharmaceuticals provides an indispensable resource in the search for the optimal plastic packaging material for each application. Materials characteristics, additives and their effects, mass transport phenomena, quality assurance, and recent regulatory requirements from the FDA and the European Commission are covered in detail with ample data. New topics include permeation, migration testing, and the contribution of packaging materials to off-flavors in foods.

From the Preface: “...The goal of the second edition remains to provide a practical and accessible treatment of plastic packaging interactions with food and pharmaceuticals that fills the gap between the many general food packaging books and ones that are very mathematical and theoretical...At the same time more plastics are being used there is increased regulatory scrutiny of all chemicals in general including those used in food packaging. No longer are chemicals being monitored and regulated just on the bases of their acute and chronic toxicities but also their environmental and endocrine disruption activities at trace levels far below those previously evaluated...”

Target Audience: Food scientists and technologists; pharmaceuticals formulators; packaging designers and engineers; polymer and materials scientists; and upper-level students in these disciplines.

Table of Contents:

Preservation of Quality Through Packaging

Characteristics of Plastic Materials

Polymer Additives

Partition Coefficients

Models for Diffusion in Polymers

A Uniform Model for Prediction of Diffusion Coefficients with Emphasis on Plastic Materials

Transport Equations and Their Solutions

Solution of Diffusion Equation for Multilayer Packaging

User-Friendly Software for Migration Estimations

Permeation of Gases and Condensable Substances Through Monolayer and Multilayer Structures

Migration of Plastic Constituents

US FDA Food Contact Materials Regulations

Community Legislation on Materials and Articles Intended to Come into Contact with Foodstuffs

Packaging Related Off-Flavors in Foods

Possibilities and Limitations of Migration Modeling

Appendices: References and a Selection of Additives Used in Many Plastic Materials

Index