On April 5, 2022, the food packaging consultancy Smithers hosted the second day of its annual Global Food Contact conference for regulatory and industry stakeholders to discuss developments and emerging issues in the food packaging world. The sessions this year were grouped by continent to get an overview of the regulatory landscape in each region, but recurring themes appeared in the talks across the different regions. The second day of the conference brought together speakers to discuss food packaging and food contact regulations in China, Japan, India, Southeast Asia, and the European Union.

Xiaolu Wang, a senior chemical regulatory compliance consultant at 3E Research, presented what has changed in Chinese food contact regulation in the last year, and she shared some of the expected standards and regulations still to come. China currently has proposals to change its food contact adhesives, plastics, and rubber regulations. Updates would clarify the definitions of adhesives, increase technical requirements, and divide adhesives into categories of direct and indirect food contact. For food contact plastics, the existing regulations on resins and plastics would be merged into one. Additionally, the technical requirements for starch in starch-based plastics would be increased, and the updated plastics regulations would add a specific migration limit (SML) on polyaromatic amines (PAAs). The proposed revised standard on food contact rubber updates migration testing methods and adds concentration limits for PAAs, as well as requirements for inks and adhesives. The proposal also removes silicone from the standard for food contact rubber because a separate application for silicone is being developed.

Wang also noted that “various industry standards for food contact materials [FCMs] have been placed on the agenda of multiple trade or industry associations or are currently being drafted or developed.” Upcoming standards Wang mentioned clarify terminology and definitions for recycled plastics for food contact, degradable storage bags for food, microwaveable aseptic paper-based composite packages for liquid food, and environmentally friendly water and grease-proof paper and cardboard for food contact use. They further clarified, “these standards are industry standards, which means that they are not actually compulsory. That being said, these standards normally have a substantial amount of impact on the practical operations of the industry. Especially when the compulsory national standards are absent.”

Additionally, the China National Food Industry Association is updating its general guidance documents for the declaration of compliance (DoC) for FCMs and adhesives which will affect all materials and articles. “This proposal… will include the basic principles for drafting the DoC, the responsibilities of relevant parties on the supply chain in relation to the DoC, as well as the elements that need to be reflected in a compliant DoC.”

Wang concluded, “there are a lot of regulatory activities that are either happening right now or are on the horizon… this means that there will be more regulatory requirements and restrictions covering a broader scope of FCMs, and secondly, it will mean that the cost of non-compliance in China may potentially increase.” Additionally, industry guidance is playing “an increasingly important role.”

Article Source: Food Packaging Forum