On July 25, 2018, 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 ‘Linpac,’ based on the Linpac super clean technology. Hot washed and dried PET flakes from post-consumer PET containers, comprising no more than 5% PET from non-food consumer applications, are used as input to this process. The PET flakes are heated in continuous driers under gas flow and then extruded. According to the results of the provided challenge test, the recycling process can ensure to limit the migration of potential unknown contaminants into food to 0.15 μg/kg food. This migration level is based on an exposure scenario for toddlers. The CEF Panel concluded that recycled PET (rPET) produced from the process ‘Linpac’ is safe for the manufacture of food contact articles with up to 100% rPET content, “intended for contact with all types of foodstuffs, except packaged water.” The finished articles “should be used at conditions covered by migration testing of 10 days at 20 °C,” the CEF Panel further advised. Also, articles made of ‘Linpac’ rPET should not be used in microwave and conventional ovens.
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CEF (July 25, 2018). “Safety assessment of the process ‘Linpac’, based on Linpac super clean technology, used to recycle post‐consumer PET into food contact materials.” EFSA Journal 16(7):5323.
