Food becomes ever safer and the consumer’s health must be protected.
We are committed to this responsibility and wish to support you in your constant struggle to keep food safety at its highest and would like to contribute with ever safer products. The European Union is the world leading food market and also leading importer/exporter of food products.
Its legislative framework for the protection of the consumer interest is the one which we need to respect and is referential on the international level.
Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004
It is the EU's framework regulation, setting general requirements for all food contact materials (FCMs): FCMs shall not release their constituents into food at levels harmful to human health or change food composition, taste and odour in an unacceptable way.
Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 on Plastic Materials and Articles.
The plastics regulation is the most comprehensive specific EU measure for plastic food contact materials. It sets out rules concerning the following aspects:
- A Union list of authorised substances (monomer, starting substances, additives, etc) that can be used in the manufacture of plastic coatings of food contact materials.
- Specific migration limits (SML) for some substances on the positive list and maximum overall migration limits (OML) for the plastic food contact materials to be 10mg/dm².
- Compliance testing requirements (for example, food simulants, test duration and temperature).
- Declaration of Compliance (DoC) requirement.
The possible migration of an hazardous substance into food stuff is the main safety concern for food contact materials. The compliance of FCMs can be verified by migration testing and the plastics regulation requires that finished food contact materials and articles comply with both the specific migration limits (SML) and the overall migration limits (OML).
- Overall migration limits (OML): the total amount of all chemical substances that can migrate from FCM into the food stuff. Expressed per food contact surface area in mg/dm² (the limit is 10mg/dm²).
- Specific migration limits (SML): the amount of a specific substance (specified in the Union list) that can migrate from FCM into the food stuff. Expressed in mg of substance per kg of food (mg/kg).
Migration testing is usually done by using various food simulants. Testing temperature and duration also vary depending on food contact use conditions.
All TPU coated Reveyron beltings are in compliance with a direct contact with food, while all PVC coated materials have a very limited compliance; please ask our sales service for further information.