On this page, you can find useful online links about contact materials
European Commission’s contact material website
- Commission pages for approval applications for fcm substances with link to e-Submission Food Chain Platform and to Efsa guidance on application
- Commission discussion note on plastic products containing vegetable fibers including bamboo fiber
- New! Questions and answers of BPA on the Commissions website
Efsa’s (European Food Safety Authority of EU) contact material website
- Instructions for an application for the safety assessment of a substance to be used in contact materials:
- Questions about contact material applications submitted to Efsa
- Ask a question from EFSA
- Recycled plastics processes (Efsa's risk assessments of processes)
- Estimate of wood powders and fibers used in plastic
- Updated risk assesment of phtalates for use in food contact materials (DBP, BBP, DEHP, DIDP)
- New! Re-evaluation of the risk of bisphenol A
- New! Efsa Guidelines for the Risk Assessment of Natural Substances
JRC, European Commission’s research laboratory
- Guidelines on testing conditions for articles in contact with foodstuffs.
(with a focus on kitchenware) - JRC’s report on non-harmonised materials
- Instructions for technical contact materials
- JRC´s guidelines about testing a mineral oils
- General resolution (recommendation) of food contact materials
- EDQM technical instructions (including metals and ja alloys 2013, paper and board 2021 New!)
Recommendations on contact materials by Germany’s BfR
Metals
- EDQMs metal resolution
- Norden publication – Food contact materials – metal and alloys
- Guidelines on testing migration on metal packaging covered with an organic coating
Printing inks
- Norden publication – Food contact materials: Printing inks (pdf)
- EuPIA’s (European Printing Ink Association) website
- Swiss Ordinance on Packaging Inks
- Draft of German Printing Ink Ordinance
- EuPIA’s guidelines about GMP for printing inks
- PTR’s instructions for printing ink users
Paper and paperboard
- Norden instructions (FI) – Food contact materials – Paper and Board
- Norden instructions (EN) – Food contact materials – Paper and Board
- Cepi’s (Confederation of European Paper Industries) website:
- Cepi’s publication: Good manufacturing Practice for manufacture of Paper and Board for Food Contact New version has published 1.6.2023
- Cepi’s publication: Food contact guidelines for the compliance of paper & board materials and articles
Plastic
- Union Guidance on Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 on plastic
materials and articles intended to come into contact with
food as regards information in the supply chaincs regulation’s (10/2011) instruction - European Commission’s guidelines about the requirements and practices of importing kitchenware made of polyamide and melamine from China and Hong Kong
- FSAI’s (Food Safety Authority of Ireland) online tool for writing a Declaration of Compliance for a plastic product. The tool is free to use and intended for plastic manufacturers
Instructions (draft) for testing for regulatory compliance according to EU’s plastics regulation 10/2011, including annexes
Adhesives
FACET
Rrisk assessment tool that can be used to assess human subjection through food to substances contained by yet unregulated materials, such as paper and paperboard, metals, colours, adhesives and waxes, considering types of food and packaging – and assessing the safety of a new material under production. The FACET tool is free to use and available at the Commission’s Joint Research Center (JRC) website that also includes a clear overview of the subject.
- Download Facet
- Facet 2.0.6 technical documentation (pdf)
- Fcm facet 2014 10 07 facet fcm manual (pdf)
Food Packaging Forum, Zurich
The foundation searches and distributes high-standard and up-to-date scientific information about all contact materials for food, and heath. It collects, sorts and categorises substance-specific information from all around the world and creates catalogues and files. https://www.foodpackagingforum.org/
Norden publication on self-monitoring and traceability, checklist