Available online at http://journalofagroalimentary.ro ! ____________________________________________ Corresponding author: email: adirivis@yahoo.com Modelling migration from plastic packaging materials used in food industry Elena Traistaru 1 , Adrian Rivis 2* , Raul Ciprian Moldovan 1 , Antigoni Menelaou 1 , Cecilia Georgescu 3 1 Gemanalysis Laboratories, 44 Kilkis Street, 2234 Latsia, Nicosia, Cyprus 2 Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Food Processing Technology, Food Quality Department, 300645Timi2oara, C. Aradului 119, Romania 3 ”Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Industry and Environmental Protection, 7 – 9 Dr. I. Ratiu street, 550012, Sibiu, Romania Received: 23 May 2013; Accepted: 15 June 2013 ______________________________________________________________________________________ This study is focused on the modeling migration from packaging materials used in food industry from a polyethylene film to a food simulant. We tried to develop a prediction statistical mathematical model, by performing an evaluation of influence of the effect of three parameters through an analysis of multiple correlations between overall migration concentration as the dependent variable, and the temperature and time as independent variables. This method could reduce the time and costs of the experimental work associated to the analysis by means of a tool with a wide prediction capacity. : overall migration, plastic, food packaging, mathematical modeling ______________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Introduction The migration process has a particular interest in food packaging, because can produce toxic effects on the human organism [1]. Packaging has become an integral part of the processing, preservation, distribution, marketing, and even the cooking of foods. Packaging materials provide protection for microbiological, chemical, and physical contamination. However, components of the packaging material must be safe to the product as well as to the consumers. Food may interact with the packaging materials and this may change the initial mechanical and barrier properties as well as the safety of the product. Migration is defined as the transfer of substances from the package to foodstuffs. The migration of potentially toxic substances from packaging material to foods is a major concern in the selection and use of materials for food packaging because of the possible effect upon human health [2]. A plastics food contact material such as food packaging, kitchen utensils and food processing equipment needs to be compliant for the overall migration level. The laboratory testing capabilities should provide knowledge, expertise for assessing compliance of plastics food contact materials to the relevant EU regulation (EU) 10/2011). The migration experiments are time2consuming, expensive and often complicated to carry out [3], so the use of mathematical models to predict migration has increased in recent years. 2. Materials and Methods To determine the overall migration commercial plastic samples made from low density polyethylene and as food stimulants (reagents used in the study Ethanol 95 % (v/v) in aqueous solution [4] for a contact time of 10 days at different contact temperatures (20 0 C, 40 0 C, and 60 0 C).