FOOD CONTACT MATERIALS
Food comes into contact with various materials and articles throughout all stages of its lifecycle – during production, storage and trade as well as when being prepared and eaten by consumers. If these articles are intended to be in contact with food, they are food contact materials.
They have to meet strict requirements because, as a rule, no substances may migrate from articles into food. There are only exceptions if the migration of substances is technically unavoidable. This is evaluated on the basis of compliance with the regulation on good manufacturing practice (Regulation (EC) No 2023/2006). European legislators also took action on a large scale, providing a foundation with the basic regulation on food contact materials (Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004) and the regulation on plastic materials and articles (Regulation (EU) No 10/2011).
In the context of food contact materials, the practical focus is often on food packaging, where problems may be caused by mineral oils migrating from recycled packaging or printing inks migrating from the packaging into the food. Innovative products, in particular, pose new challenges for the industry: For example, if natural materials like bamboo or leaves are intended to be used as contact materials, evaluation based on conventional parameters fails.
Migration test as part of quality assurance or complaints?
You would like to test the migration of certain substances before marketing a product as part of your quality assurance? You have received a complaint about sensory deviations or perhaps even a complaint from an authority? We will be happy to help you. Give us a call.
In this context, a sophisticated understanding of substances, their effects and any risks of use is indispensable, so we often like to use the scientific expertise of our collaboration partner meyer.science GmbH when working in this field. Combined with our knowledge of the legal framework, this enables us to provide effective and comprehensive counsel to all responsible parties, from manufacturers of raw materials and end products to suppliers and buyers, regarding declarations of conformity or any necessary measures such as returns and recalls.