On June 14, 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 ‘Alimpet,’ which is based on the EREMA Multi-Purpose Reactor (MPR) technology. The process uses hot washed and dried PET flakes from post-consumer PET containers, containing no more than 5% PET from non-food consumer applications. The PET flakes are heated in a continuous reactor under vacuum. The challenge test conducted by the applicant demonstrated that the recycling process 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 noted. Therefore, the CEF Panel concluded that recycled PET (rPET) obtained from the process ‘Alimpet’ is safe for use in extruded PET sheet for the manufacture of thermoformed trays and containers with up to 100% rPET content. The rPET trays and containers are intended for contact with all types of foodstuffs, except packaged water, for long-term storage at room temperature. The rPET trays however should not be used in microwave and conventional ovens.
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CEF (June 14, 2017). “Safety assessment of the process ‘Alimpet,’ based on EREMA MPR technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials.” EFSA Journal 15(6): 4844.
