# Toxic Metals Migration from Plastic Food Contact Materials in Romania: A Health Risk Assessment
## 3 Results
### Heavy Metals Migration
Specifically, Fe, Zn, Ba, Mn, and Cu were the metals most concentrated in the food simulants released from the tested samples. These results are consistent with the findings of [PERSON] et al. (2023) [38], who identified Zn, Ba, V, Mn, Cr, Be, Ni, Co, and Sb as the most concentrated metals in food simulants used to evaluate metal migration from disposable paper or plastic containers. In contrast, our study did not detect Pb, Cd, or Cr in any of the food simulants. The highest migration of Fe was observed in sample 21, while Zn reached the maximum concentration in sample 15, Ba in sample 11, Mn in sample 29, and Cu in sample 30. These concentrations were measured for packages obtained from different raw materials, specifically Fe and Zn in PE materials, Ba and Cu in PP materials, and Zn and Mn in composite materials, which demonstrated that the raw material does not influence the \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Element** & **Min-Max (ug/kg)** & **FD 1 (no/\%)** & **SML 2 (ug/kg)** & **\textgreater{}SML** \\ \hline Ba & \textless{}0.03–78.90 & 28/93.33 & 1000 & 0/30 \\ Co & \textless{}0.02–0.78 & 23/76.67 & 50 & 0/30 \\ Cu & \textless{}0.04–31.86 & 29/96.67 & 5000 & 0/30 \\ Zn & 0.12–385.50 & 30/100 & 5000 & 0/30 \\ Mn & \textless{}0.18–63.69 & 25/83.33 & 600 & 0/30 \\ Ni & \textless{}0.06–15.64 & 27/90 & 20 & 0/30 \\ Li & \textless{}0.08–0.72 & 14/46.67 & 600 & 0/30 \\ Fe & \textless{}0.06–4383.20 & 27/90 & 48,000 & 0/30 \\ Pb & Undetectable (\textless{}1.0) & 0 & Undetectable & 0/30 \\ Cd & Undetectable (\textless{}1.0) & 0 & Undetectable & 0/30 \\ Cr & Undetectable (\textless{}1.0) & 0 & Undetectable & 0/30 \\ Sb & \textless{}0.03–1.50 & 19/63.33 & 40 & 0/30 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} \({}^{1}\)—FD—frequency detection; \({}^{2}\)—SML—specific migration limit (from Regulation 10 [11] and subsequent changes).  
\end{table} 
Table 5: Trace and heavy metals migration from plastic FCMs (ug/kg). migration of heavy metals. [PERSON] et al. (2019) [PERSON] et al. (2019) also demonstrated that the amounts of heavy metals released from plastics varied between different packaging materials. Their study revealed that Zn, Fe, and Al were the predominant elements migrated from PE, while Al, Zn, and Cu migrated the most from PS and PP materials. They also reported that migration of Pb, Cd, and Cr was not detected in any plastic. Excepting Li, Pb, Cd, and Cr, the detection frequency of each metal exceeds 60%, indicating their presence in the tested films. The highest detection frequency was obtained for Zn, followed by Cu, Ba, Ni, and Fe. In contrast, Pb, Cd, and Cr had the lowest detection frequency, as they were not detected in any sample. Additionally, the detection frequency of metals such as Pb, Sb, Cd, Co, Mn, Sn, and As tested by [PERSON] et al. (2022) (2022) exceeds 80%, suggesting that these metals were widely present in plastic take-out food containers. A possible explanation for the presence of these metals is that Fe and Mn may be obtained from manganese iron trioxide (CAS 12062-81-6) used as an additive. Co and Fe are also components of the cobalt iron chromite black spinel additive (CAS 68186-97-0) [41]. Zn is incorporated as zinc borate in plastics, an inorganic, non-reactive compound used at concentrations between 0.7% and 3% (\(w/w\)) as a flame retardant. In addition, zinc sulfide and zinc oxide are used as inorganic pigments at concentrations between 0.01% and 10%, while zinc oxide is also used as a filler at levels up to 50%. Iron is included as iron oxide (an inorganic pigment) at concentrations of 0.01% to 10%. Barium is used as a thermal stabilizer at levels between 0.5% and 3% or as filler (barium sulfate) up to 50% (\(w/w\)) [42]. In addition, copper ions (Cu\({}^{2+}\)) show considerable mobility in aqueous solutions, indicating their ability to easily detach from plastics and dissolve in food or liquids with which they come into contact. Consequently, the probability of Cu migration from plastics is higher than that of other base materials [43].