Moh (Mineral Oil Hydrocarbons) are mineral based hydrocarbons obtained from crude oil, coal, gas or biomass that can potentially contaminate food production undermining food safety. Moh can be divided into two main categories:

• Mosh, acronym of Mineral Oil Saturated Hydrocarbons. Mosh tend to accumulate with toxic effects on organs, especially on liver and lymph nodes. 
• Moah, acronym of Mineral Oil Aromatic Hydrocarbons. Moah are considered more toxic than Mosh and they are suspected to be carcinogenic.

The real challenge of this last years has been to establish a detection methodology to fix the ADI (Acceptable Daily Intake) value, which is the acceptable daily ingestion tolerance for humans. Generally speaking experts think that Moah percentage (ref. 3-7 PAC) settles at 15-35% of total Moh. Although a step forward has been made in detection methodology it is still hard to imagine long-term implications, especially regarding liver deposits.

Apart from detection methodology it is still very difficult to establish the effective source of a Mosh Moah food contamination. Main potential occasions might occur from:

• Environmental contamination: leaks of industrial lubricants, gasoline, bitumen and rubbish parts coming from agricultural machines during harvesting;
• Process contamination: coming from A) process industrial lubricants made for direct or accidental contact with food, B) food additives, C) processing aids like lubricants and release agents during baking and/or packaging;  
• Transfer contamination: coming from direct contact of food with packaging, adhesives or inks particularly in case of recycled paper and board.

Take into account that hydrocarbons and light mineral oils are extremely volatile. Even if there's no direct contact, hydrocarbons can evaporate and later on re-condense on food. 

Pakelo tested its whole range of non-toxic lubricants to understand if the formulation changes to create Mosh and Moah free lubricants could affect their performance. In the graphic below we confronted friction coefficients of a standard mineral-based foodgrade lubricant (green line), a standard synthetic-based foodgrade lubricant (yellow line) and a product of the new Mosh and Moah free series Non Tox Oil M ISO 46 (blue line). Under the same viscosity, friction coefficient test reveals a -20% for Non Tox Oil M ISO 46 compared with other products. It means that this product is as good for food safety as it is for the good functioning and performance of mechanical organs.

German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL in German) has already taken a position autonomously. German limits on Mosh and Moah presence on packagings are:

• Mosh presence limit: 0,6 ppm of food
• Moah migration limit: 0,15 ppm of food

We don't know when, but it is pretty obvious that both EFSA and the World Health Organization (Who) will also take a decision on this delicate matter in the next future.