On June 21, 2017 the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids (CEF Panel) published three scientific opinions on the post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling processes ‘Coexpan Montonate,’ ‘4PET,’ and ‘Plastienvase,’ respectively. The former is based on the Starlinger Decon technology and the latter two are based on the EREMA Basic technology. All three processes use washed and dried PET flakes from post-consumer PET containers, containing no more than 5% PET from non-food applications.

In the ‘Coexpan Montonate’ process, the PET flakes are preheated and then subject to solid-state polycondensation (SSP) in a continuous reactor at high temperature under vacuum and gas flow. The provided challenge test demonstrated that the recycling process can ensure to limit migration of potential unknown contaminants into food to 0.1 µg/kg food. Therefore, the CEF Panel concluded that recycled PET (rPET) obtained from this process is safe for the manufacture of food contact articles with up to 100% rPET content. The rPET articles are intended for all types of foodstuffs for long-term storage at room temperature, with or without hotfill. However, trays made of this rPET should not be used in microwave and conventional ovens, the CEF Panel noted.

In the ‘4PET’ and ‘Plastienvase’ processes, the PET flakes are heated in a continuous reactor under vacuum and are then being extruded. The provided challenge tests demonstrated that both recycling processes can ensure to limit migration of potential unknown contaminants into food to 0.15 µg/kg food. This migration limit corresponds to an exposure scenario for toddlers, the CEF Panel explained and concluded that rPET obtained from these processes is safe for the manufacture of trays, containers, and beverage bottles, with up to 90% (‘4PET’) and 100% (‘Plastienvase’) rPET content. The rPET articles should not be used for packaging water, or ready-to-feed liquid infant formulae in the case of ‘4PET.’ Further, the rPET trays should not be used in microwave and conventional ovens.

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CEF (June 21, 2017). “Safety assessment of the process ‘Coexpan Montonate’, based on Starlinger Decon technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials.EFSA Journal 15(6):4848.

CEF (June 21, 2017). “Safety assessment of the process ‘4PET’, based on EREMA Basic technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials.EFSA Journal 15(6):4845.

CEF (June 21, 2017). “Safety assessment of the process ‘Plastienvase’, based on EREMA Basic technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials.EFSA Journal 15(6):4843.

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