Non Intentionally Added Substances | NIAS Testing

To ensure food and consumer packaging compliance, manufacturers of plastic food contact materials and articles are required to conduct migration studies following regulatory guidelines. There is also a requirement to carry out an evaluation for non-intentionally added substances (NIAS) if present.

What are Non Intentionally Added Substances?

NIAS are chemical compounds that are present in a material but have not been added for a technical reason during the production process. Their presence in food contact materials is often challenging for food contact materials producers.

NIAS originate from break-down products of food contact materials, impurities of starting materials, unwanted side-products and various contaminants from recycling processes

These NIAS may arise in the finished materials and articles from impurities or degradation products of positively listed substances or residues from the polymerization process. NIAS can also arise from recycled content or treatment processes such as irradiation. They may be present as degradation products of authorised substances or as impurities in authorized substances.

We can help with NIAS testing:

• Identify and measure NIAS via mass spectrometry 
• Evaluate the hazard of the identified substances.

The Smithers difference:

• World-leading food contact testing expertise
• State-of-the-art GC-MS and LC-MS equipment 
• In-house library of mass spectra to enable efficient and accurate contaminant identification 
• We continually invest and develop in our analytical expertise for migration testing, in response to the demand for technological innovations such as digital printing, UV cured inks, nanography and high temperature inks.