Partial release potentials and step sequences
Safe Packaging Design - Principles, Modeling and Foundations

We seek to attribute, within a sequence of stages in the packaging’s life cycle, an explainable portion of the total release of the substance $i$ to each stage. Contrary to common intuition, a partial potential may be nonzero even if no direct transfer to the food occurs during the stage in question. It is sufficient for the stage to mobilize the substance (internal redistribution, surface proximity, interface formation, geometric modification) in a way that increases the amount that will be released during a subsequent stage.

Examples of “mobilizing” mechanisms without food contact:

• thermoforming, which thins a layer and increases the specific surface...