On February 3, 2016 the European Commission’s (EC) Technical Expert Group for Food Contact Materials (FCMs) published a summary of their last meeting that took place on January 19, 2016 in Brussels, Belgium. Regarding recycled plastics, the chair of the meeting, Bastiaan Schupp of the EC’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE), informed that approximately 106 recycling processes shall be authorized in 2016. The processes to be authorized mostly concern the recycling of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). High-density polyethylene (HDPE) recycling is still being reviewed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Further, changes to a draft amendment of the food contact plastic Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 were discussed. The definition of rubber and a limit for nickel were removed from the present draft; a definition of hot-fill was introduced. The specific general migration limit (Artcile 11(2)) shall be deleted. Other topics of discussion included the absence of testing methods for migration of oligomers and the transitional period for glass fiber sizing. Lastly, industry stressed the necessity of a harmonized regulatory approach to rubbers and other materials and pointed out that applying mutual recognition alone is not sufficient.
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Technical Expert Group for Food Contact Materials (February 3, 2016). “Summary – Meeting 19 January 2016.” (pdf)
