Moderation: Hans-Uwe von Grabowski
Nothing is more important to people than their own health. The mode of action of substances that we ingest intentionally or unintentionally was therefore investigated early on. For 500 years, Paracelsus' principle of the concentration dependence of toxic substances served as a guideline for all those involved in toxicology.
In the second half of the 20th century, increasingly sophisticated analytical methods made it possible to detect ever smaller concentrations in (foreign) substances that are absorbed into the human body with food. As a result, the transfer of substances from food contact materials (or from the "environment" in general) into food became increasingly relevant and was reflected in legislation. Since the 1980s, the EU member states have successively established a legal framework which, based on scientific data, is still leading the way globally (!) for the assessment of food contact materials.The presentation deals with the legal framework (of the EU) for substances/materials/articles for food contact and the physical and chemical principles on which this is based.