Progress in research on the safety of silicone rubber products in food processing

Abstract

Silicone rubber (SR) is widely used in the food processing industry due to its excellent physical and chemical properties. However, due to the differences in SR product production formulas and processes, the quality of commercially available SR products varies greatly, with chemical and biological hazard potentials.Residual chemicals in SR, such as siloxane oligomers and 2,4-dichlorobenzoic acid, are non-intentionally added substances, which may migrate into food during processing so the safe use of SR must be guaranteed. Simultaneously, SR in contact with food is susceptible to pathogenic bacteria growing and biofilm formation, like Cronobacter sakazakii, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella enteritidis, and Listeria monocytogenes, posing a food safety risk. Under severe usage scenarios such as high-temperature, high-pressure, microwave, and freezing environments with long-term use, SR products are more prone to aging, and their degradation products may pose potential food safety hazards. Based on the goal of ensuring food quality and safety to the greatest extent possible, this review suggests that enterprises need to prepare high-quality food-contact SR products by optimizing the manufacturing formula and production process, and developing products with antibacterial and antiaging properties. The government departments should establish quality standards for food-contact SR products and conduct effective supervision. Besides, the reusable SR products should be cleaned by consumers immediately after use, and the deteriorated products should be replaced as soon as possible.

Mussel-Inspired Green Cross-Linking of Silicone Elastomers and Its Tunable Adhesion Behavior and Underwater Curing Capability

“…Contrarily, the traditional cross-linking methods of silicone elastomers are mainly addition and condensation reactions . Both of these methods require the use of toxic (or heavy metal) catalysts, which cause environmental pollution and harm to organisms, and do not meet the requirements of environmental protection and green chemistry . To solve this problem, researchers have proposed many new cross-linking strategies, such as thiol-double bond reaction, , dynamic covalent bonding, , borate ester, and metal–ligand bonding .…”