Food Contact

FEICA is committed to support the flow of information necessary to ensure the safety of our products in the supply chain, both upstream and downstream. 

For a number of years the EU has set out legislation in relation to food packaging to protect consumers’ health, e.g. the Framework Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 on materials and articles intended to come into contact with food. With the Regulation (EC) No 2023/2006 the Commission also defines rules on good manufacturing practice (GMP) for the groups of materials and articles intended to come into contact with food.

In the area of food contact materials, plastic materials and articles are regulated by a specific measure harmonised at EU level, the Plastics Regulation (EU) No 10/2011. This regulation provides among other requirements a list of authorised substances. Other substance groups as e.g. adhesives, coatings or print inks do not have such specific harmonised legislation yet. These groups of materials remain subject to the EU Framework Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 and where existing, to the relevant Member State national legislations.

FEICA has published several guidance documents to help producers and users of food contact adhesives such as packaging converters and their downstream users as well as other stakeholders, such as legislators. An overview:

  • FEICA guidance related to the food contact status of adhesives and mineral oil hydrocarbons (2017)
  • FEICA guidance on migration testing of adhesives intended for food contact material (2016)
  • FEICA guidance for a food contact status declaration for adhesives (2014)
  • FEICA guidance for Good Manufacturing Practise (GMP) (2015)

 

FEICA guidance related to the food contact status of adhesives and mineral oil hydrocarbons

FEICA has published a guidance paper with clarifications on how to risk assess mineral oil hydrocarbons in adhesives. This guidance aims to support adhesives producers and their downstream users in making sure that the adhesive in its intended application complies with article 3 of the Framework Regulation 1935/2004.

 

FEICA guidance on migration testing of adhesives intended for food contact material

This FEICA guidance is part of a package on migration testing of non-plastic food contact material developed by several sector associations from the packaging supply chain. 

 

FEICA guidance for a food contact status declaration for adhesives

This guidance is primarily aimed at FEICA members and the members of its national association members who are manufacturing adhesives for the food packaging market in the EU. 

 

FEICA guidance for Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)

The GMP Guidance, prepared by the FEICA Paper & Packaging Technical Working Group, aims to help the adhesives industry, customers and other stakeholders to understand how the regulation (EC) No 2023/2006 "on good manufacturing practice for materials and articles intended to come into contact with food" can be implemented by the adhesive industry.

 

FEICA Seminar: Safe adhesives for safe food

On 28 September 2017, FEICA held a seminar titled 'Safe Adhesives for Safe Food' for all actors in the supply chain.  The seminar concentrated on migration testing of adhesives and especially the testing of the migration of mineral oil hydrocarbons.

The proceedings are available for download by clicking on the titles.

 

Migration models for plastics

2015 - The Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published "Practical guidelines on the application of migration modelling for the estimation of specific migration”.

Aim of the guidance is to assist users of diffusion models to predict conservative, upper bound specific migration values from plastic food contact materials for compliance purposes by providing guidance on the relevant input parameters. This document replaces the previous version "Estimation of specific migration by generally recognised diffusion models in support of EU Directive 2002/72/EC" and updates to the current legal basis (Regulation (EU) No 10/2011).

ILSI Europe Report on Adhesives for Food Packaging Materials

This report 'Packaging Materials 10: Adhesives for Food Packaging Materials', commissioned by the ILSI Europe Packaging Materials Task Force, was prepared by the FEICA Paper & Packaging TWG. It is directed to food packagers and adhesive users, as well as to other members of the supply chain and related scientific staff. It aims to provide an overview of the variety of adhesives that can be used in food packaging. In addition, the report describes the typical ingredients of the various types of adhesives and their different behaviours. Furthermore, it describes typical applications of the various adhesives, thus giving the reader assistance in choosing the right adhesive for their individual application.

Finally, the report provides an overview of the food contact legislation relevant for food packaging adhesives, together with guidance on the evaluation of adhesives intended for food contact applications.  

By Monika Tonniessen, October 2018 - ISBN 9789078637455 - Copyright 2018 ILSI Europe, first published on http://ilsi.eu/publication/packaging-materials-10-adhesives-for-food-packaging-applications/

To learn more about the guidance papers of the other sectors, please contact these sectors directly:

  • ACE - The Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment
  • APEAL - The Association of European Producers of Steel for Packaging
  • CEFIC-FCA - Food Contact Additives sector group of CEFIC
  • CELIEGE - European Cork Federation
  • CEPE - Can Coatings Sector, Paints, printing inks and artists’ colours in Europe
  • CEPI - The Confederation of European Paper Industries
  • CES Silicones Europe - Silicones Europe
  • EAA - The European Aluminium Association
  • EEA - The European Enamel Authority
  • ECMA - The European Carton Makers Association
  • ETRMA - European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturing Association
  • EuPIA - European Printing Ink Association
  • EWF - European Wax federation (contact EWF by e-mail) 
  • FEC - Federation of the European cutlery, flatware, hollowware and cookware industries (contact FEC by e-mail)
  • FEFCO - European Corrugated Packaging Association
  • FPE - Flexible Packaging Europe
  • GAE - Glass Alliance Europe