Assessing the toxicity of polymeric food-contact substances

► Considerations for safety of low molecular weight oligomers (LMWOs) are described. ► Genotoxicity/carcinogenicity data are limited for polymeric and oligomeric materials. ► Polymerization reactions, monomers data, and SAR on LMWOs aid assessment. ► A weight-of-evidence-based analysis can address genetic toxicity and carcinogenicity. ► Assessing LMWOs is important as they can be the primary polymeric migrants to food.