# Toxic Metals Migration from Plastic Food Contact Materials in Romania: A Health Risk Assessment
## 1 Introduction  
Food production and consumption have increased in recent years due to accelerated urbanization and globalization, leading to the expansion of sectors related to food production, such as the packaging industry. This industry generates about 2% to the gross national product in developed countries, and about 50% of the total production of packaging is dedicated to the food industry [1]. Packaging plays a vital role in the food industry, contributing to the production, processing, transport, and storage of food and beverages. Food packaging also supports the global food system and increases convenience for consumers [2]. Additionally, food packaging offers physical protection, barrier protection, and improved food preservation, which extends the shelf life of products [3] and provides useful information to consumers about the ingredients, storage conditions, and environmental performances of the products [1]. Among food packages, plastic materials, especially polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polyethylene (PE), are commonly used in the food industry. These materials can pose a risk for food safety due to the migration of harmful substances from the packaging into the contained food product [4]. These chemical compounds, known as food contact chemicals (FCCs), can migrate from food contact materials into food products. This migration process is influenced by factors such as temperature, storage time, chemistry of the packaging material and food product, thickness of the contact layer, and package size (smaller packages havingproportionally greater migration due to increased surface-to-volume ratio) [5]. Bispenols, phthalates and their alternatives, metals, and volatile organic compounds have been frequently detected food contact materials (FCMs) [6]. Trace and toxic metal contamination of food packaging materials is a significant concern, because these contaminants can be released into food products during storage. Metals are often added as chemical additives such as light stabilizers, flame retardants [7], antioxidants, plasticizers, UV and thermal stabilizers, pigments, lubricants, and fillers [8], to improve the properties of plastic materials. Since these additives are not chemically bound to the polymer matrix, they can migrate from the plastic material under the action of different physical-chemical factors related to either the packaging material or the food product [7]. The majority of FCCs that migrate in contact with food possess toxic properties, which can lead to different effects depending on the dose, timing of exposure, mode of action, and other factors. Many of these chemical contaminants have either not been subjected to hazard testing or have only limited toxicity data available [5]. For example, trace and toxic metals can reach into the body through consumption of food contaminated with migrated heavy metals. These contaminants can accumulate in the body and affect biological functions, leading to various diseases even at low concentrations. Among their non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic effects are intestinal disorders, tremors, diarrhea, hemoglobinuria, stomatitis, convulsions, depression, poor fetal development, various types of cancer [8], as well as brain and kidney damage, cirrhosis liver, neurological dysfunction, osteoporosis, immunotoxicity, and dermatitis [9]. The health risks associated with the materials and chemicals used in food packaging must be carefully assessed and monitored periodically. To prevent potential migration of carcinogenic compounds in food, such FCCs should be reduced [10]. In addition, reliable analytical control methods are needed to detect and quantify these chemical migrants [3]. For this reason, this study aimed to examine the migration of 12 toxic metals (Ba, Co, Cu, Zn, Mn, Ni, Li, Fe, Pb, Cd, Cr, and Sb), from 30 samples of plastic films and bags available on the Romanian market, using the ICP-MS technique.