Companies in the food packaging chain using polyolefins (polyethylenes and polypropylenes) can now access Sabic’s new food safety and compliance declarations.

The company is one of the first producers of plastics to the European food industry to have all its food contact declarations updated in line with changes to European Union regulations, three years ahead of the required 2016 deadline.

These changes are intended to further increase the safety of packaged foods. Sabic has been required to retest all its polyolefins packaging materials to make sure they are compliant with the new testing conditions. It provides hundreds of food contact declarations concerning its European polyolefins portfolio as an important service to its customers.

STRINGENT TESTING
The new regulations involve more stringent testing on the ways migration from packaging into food is tested. As these new regulations come into force over the next three years, plastics processors and packaging companies will need to seek further assurances on compliance from their materials suppliers.

EU Plastics Regulation 10/2011 came into force on May 1, 2011, and introduces several changes to regulations embodied in Council Directive 82/711/EC, particularly with reference to testing conditions for migration of individual chemicals and in what can be used in the tests to simulate actual foods. However, the new regulation will not become compulsory until January 1, 2016.

For PE and PP, Sabic already has assessed all substances regulated with a Specific Migration Limit (SML) under the new conditions (10 days at 60º C). Its tests showed that none of its PE or PP materials will be subject to additional restrictions for use in food contact applications.