Food simulants and real food – What do we know about the migration of PFAS from paper based food contact materials?

Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) can be found in food contact materials (FCMs). Therefore, migration into food occurs and contributes to human dietary exposure. Identification and minimization of possible exposure-pathways of these omnipresent and potentially toxic chemicals are important to mitigate health risks. Nonetheless, risk assessment procedures are mostly limited to considering the final PFAS concentrations in food without distinguishing the contribution of migration. Additionally, the use of food simulants during migration tests can potentially misrepresent migration results. Critically assessing reported migration behaviors of PFAS showed that the use of food simulants (especially Tenax®) in migration tests lead to an underestimation of PFAS exposure from FCMs. Reported PFAS concentrations migrated into food as well as consumption data from databases were used to estimate the dietary exposure. PFAS exclusively migrated from FCMs can considerably contribute to consumers’ dietary exposure potentially impacting human health. •Migration depends on contact conditions, PFAS- and food characteristics.•Food simulants need to be carefully considered to assess PFAS migration into food.•More inclusive ways of assessing consumer risk such as the RPF approach are needed.•PFAS exposure due to migration constitutes a considerable part of the TWI.