On June 9, 2017 the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids (CEF Panel) published a scientific opinion on the post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling process ‘Coexpan Deutschland,’ which is based on the EREMA Basic technology. Hot washed and dried PET flakes from post-consumer PET containers, containing no more than 5% PET from non-food consumer applications, are used as input to this process. The flakes are heated in a continuous reactor under vacuum and are then being extruded. The performed challenge test demonstrated that the recycling process can ensure to limit the migration of potential unknown contaminants to 0.15 μg/kg food. This migration limit was derived from an exposure scenario for toddlers, the CEF Panel explained. Therefore, the CEF Panel concluded that recycled PET (rPET) obtained from the process ‘Coexpan Deutschland’ is safe for the manufacture of thermoformed trays and containers with up to 100% rPET content. The CEF Panel noted that rPET obtained from the process is not intended to be used for packaging water. Further, thermoformed trays made of this rPET should not be used in microwave and conventional ovens.
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CEF (June 9, 2017). “Safety assessment of the process ‘Coexpan Deutschland’, based on EREMA Basic technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials.”
