For testing compliance of migration from plastic food contact materials and articles the following general rules apply.U.K.
The material or article shall be stored as indicated on the packaging label or under conditions adequate for the packaged food if no instructions are given. The food shall be removed from contact with the material or article before its expiration date or any date by which the manufacturer has indicated the product should be used for reasons of quality or safety.
The food shall be treated in accordance with the cooking instructions on the package if the food is to be cooked in the package. Parts of the food which are not intended to be eaten shall be removed and discarded. The remainder shall be homogenised and analysed for migration. The analytical results shall always be expressed on the basis of the food mass that is intended to be eaten, in contact with the food contact material.
The specific migration is analysed in the food using an analytical method in accordance with the requirements of Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004.
In case there is evidence linked to the food sample that a substance partially or wholly originates from a source or sources other than the material or article for which the test is being carried out, the test results shall be corrected for the amount of that substance originating from the other source or sources before comparing the test results to the applicable specific migration limit.]
Textual Amendments
Verification of compliance of migration into foods with the migration limits shall be carried out under the most extreme conditions of time and temperature foreseeable in actual use taking into account paragraphs 1.4, 2.1.1, 2.1.6 and 2.1.7.U.K.
Verification of compliance of migration into food simulants with the migration limits shall be carried out using conventional migration tests according to the rules set out in paragraphs 2.1.1 to 2.1.7.
The material or article shall be treated as described by accompanying instructions or by provisions given in the declaration of compliance.
Migration is determined on the material or article or, if this is impractical, on a specimen taken from the material or article, or a specimen representative of this material or article. For each food simulant or food type, a new test specimen is used. Only those parts of the sample which are intended to come into contact with foods in actual use shall be placed in contact with the food simulant or the food.
Materials and articles intended for contact with all types of food shall be tested with food simulant A, B and D2. However, if substances that may react with acidic food simulant or foods are not present testing in food simulant B can be omitted.
Materials and articles intended only for specific types of foods shall be tested with the food simulants indicated for the food types in Annex III.
[F1The sample shall be placed in contact with the food simulant in a manner representing the worst of the foreseeable conditions of use as regard contact time in Table 1 and as regard contact temperature in Table 2.
By way of derogation to the conditions set out in Tables 1 and 2, the following rules apply:
If it is found that carrying out the tests under the combination of contact conditions specified in Tables 1 and 2 causes physical or other changes in the test specimen which do not occur under worst foreseeable conditions of use of the material or article under examination, the migration tests shall be carried out under the worst foreseeable conditions of use in which these physical or other changes do not take place;
if the material or article during it intended use is subjected only to precisely controlled time and temperature conditions in food processing equipment, either as part of food packaging or as part of the processing equipment itself, testing may be done using the worst foreseeable contact conditions that can occur during the processing of the food in that equipment;
if the material or article is intended to be employed only for hot-fill conditions, only a 2-hour test at 70 °C shall be carried out. However, if the material or article is intended to be used also for storage at room temperature or below, the test conditions set out in Tables 1 and 2 of this Section or in Section 2.1.4 of this Chapter apply depending on the duration of storage.
[F2if the plastic material or article intended to come into contact with food of which the compliance must be verified becomes in its final application part of a food processing equipment or an appliance, or a part thereof, the migration tests may be carried out by determining the specific migration into the food or food simulant produced or processed by the whole equipment or appliance, or the part thereof, as appropriate, subject to the following conditions:
the food or food simulant is processed during testing by the equipment or part thereof in accordance with the worst foreseeable conditions that can be achieved if the equipment or its part is operated in accordance with its operating instructions, and
the migration from parts used for storage such as from reservoirs, containers, or capsules or pads which are part of the equipment during the processing of the food, is determined using conditions representative for their use, unless the applied testing conditions for the whole tested equipment or appliance are representative also of their use.
When migration testing is done under the above conditions, and the transfer of constituents from the equipment or appliance as a whole does not exceed the migration limits, the plastic parts or materials present in the equipment or appliance shall be considered to comply with Article 11(1).
The testing of the parts used for storage or supply such as reservoirs, containers, capsules or pads shall be under conditions representative of their use, and shall include the foreseeable storage conditions of the food in these parts.
The supporting documentation referred to in Article 16 shall clearly document the testing on the whole food processing and/or food producing equipment or appliance, or on parts thereof. It shall demonstrate that the testing was representative of its foreseeable use, and shall indicate for which substances migration testing was carried out and provide all testing results. The manufacturer of individual plastic parts shall ensure the absence of migration for substances for which the Regulation specifies that their migration shall not be detectable at a specified level of detection in accordance with Article 11(4).
Compliance documentation supplied in accordance with the Regulation to the producer of the final equipment or appliance, or part thereof, shall list all substances subject to migration limits that might be exceeded under the foreseeable use of the supplied part or material.
When the result is not in compliance with the Regulation it shall be determined whether the source of the non-compliance is a plastic part subject to the Regulation or a part made from another material not subject to the Regulation on the basis of documentary evidence or analytical testing. Without prejudice to Article 3 of Regulation (EU) No 1935/2004, non-compliance to the Regulation shall only be established if the migration originates from a plastic part.]
Textual Amendments
If the testing conditions representative for the worst foreseeable conditions of intended use of the material or article, are not technically feasible in food simulant D2, migration tests shall be done using ethanol 95 % and isooctane. In addition a migration test shall be done using food simulant E if the temperature under the worst foreseeable conditions of intended use exceeds 100 °C. The test that results in the highest specific migration shall be used to establish compliance with this Regulation.]
[F1Selection of test time]
| Contact time in worst foreseeable use | [F1Time to be selected for testing] |
|---|---|
| t ≤ 5 min | 5 min |
| 5 min < t ≤ 0,5 hour | 0,5 hour |
| 0,5 hours < t ≤ 1 hour | 1 hour |
| 1 hour < t ≤ 2 hours | 2 hours |
| 2 hours < t ≤ 6 hours | 6 hours |
| 6 hours < t ≤ 24 hours | 24 hours |
| 1 day < t ≤ 3 days | 3 days |
| 3 days < t ≤ 30 days | 10 days |
| Above 30 days | See specific conditions |
Selection of test temperature
| a This temperature shall be used only for food simulants D2 and E. For applications heated under pressure, migration testing under pressure at the relevant temperature may be performed. For food simulants A, B, C or D1 the test may be replaced by a test at 100 °C or at reflux temperature for duration of four times the time selected according to the conditions in Table 1.] | |
| Worst foreseeable contact temperature | Contact temperature to be selected for testing |
|---|---|
| T ≤ 5 °C | 5 °C |
| 5 °C < T ≤ 20 °C | 20 °C |
| 20 °C < T ≤ 40 °C | 40 °C |
| 40 °C < T ≤ 70 °C | 70 °C |
| 70 °C < T ≤ 100 °C | 100 °C or reflux temperature |
| 100 °C < T ≤ 121 °C | 121 °C a |
| 121 °C < T ≤ 130 °C | 130 °C a |
| 130 °C < T ≤ 150 °C | 150 °C a |
| 150 °C < T < 175 °C | 175 °C a |
| 175 °C < T ≤ 200 °C | 200 °C a |
| T > 200 °C | 225 °C a |
For contact times above 30 days (long term) at room temperature and below, the specimen shall be tested in accelerated test conditions at elevated temperature for a maximum of 10 days at 60 °C (1) .
Testing for 10 days at 20 °C shall cover all storage times at frozen condition. This test can include the freezing and defrosting processes if labelling or other instructions ensure that 20 °C is not exceeded and the total time above – 15 °C does not exceed 1 day in total during the foreseeable intended use of the material or article.
Testing for 10 days at 40 °C shall cover all storage times at refrigerated and frozen conditions including hot-fill conditions and/or heating up to 70 °C ≤ T ≤ 100 °C for maximum t = 120/2^((T-70)/10) minutes.
Testing for 10 days at 50 °C shall cover all storage times of up to 6 months at room temperature, including hot-fill conditions and/or heating up to 70 °C ≤ T ≤ 100 °C for maximum t = 120/2^((T-70)/10) minutes.
Testing for 10 days at 60 °C shall cover storage above 6 months at room temperature and below, including hot-fill conditions and/or heating up to 70 °C ≤ T ≤ 100 °C for maximum t = 120/2^((T-70)/10) minutes.
For storage at room temperature the testing conditions can be reduced to 10 days at 40 °C if it is shown by scientific evidence that migration of the respective substance in the polymer has reached equilibration under this test condition.
For worst foreseeable conditions of intended use not covered by the test conditions set out in points (a) to (e), the testing time and temperature conditions shall be based on the following formula:
t2 = t1 * Exp (9627 * (1/T2 – 1/T1))
t1 is the contact time
t2 is the testing time
T1 is the contact temperature in Kelvin. For room temperature storage this is set at 298K (25 °C). For refrigerated conditions it is set at 278K (5 °C). For frozen storage it is set at 258 K (– 15 °C).
T2 is the testing temperature in Kelvin.]
[F1If a material or article is intended for different applications covering different combinations of contact time and temperature the testing shall be restricted to the test conditions which are recognised to be the most severe on the basis of scientific evidence.]
If the material or article is intended for a food contact application where it is successively subject to a combination of two or more times and temperatures, the migration test shall be carried out subjecting the test specimen successively to all the applicable worst foreseeable conditions appropriate to the sample, using the same portion of food simulant.
If the material or article is intended to come into repeated contact with foods, the migration test(s) shall be carried out three times on a single sample using another portion of food simulant on each occasion. The specific migration in the second test shall not exceed the level observed in the first test, and the specific migration in the third test shall not exceed the level observed in the second test.
Compliance of the material or article shall than be verified on the basis of the level of the migration found in the third test and on the basis of the stability of the material or article from the first to the third migration test. The stability of the material shall be considered insufficient if migration is observed above the level of detection in any of the three migration tests, and increases from the first migration test to the third migration test. In case of insufficient stability, compliance of the material shall not be established even in case the specific migration limit is not exceeded in any of the three tests.
However, if there is conclusive scientific proof that the level of the migration decreases in the second and third tests and if the migration limits are not exceeded on the first test, no further test is necessary.
Irrespective of the above rules, a material or article shall never be considered to comply with this Regulation if in the first test a substance that is prohibited from migrating or from being released in detectable quantities under Article 11(4) is detected.]
Textual Amendments
At the end of the prescribed contact time, the specific migration is analysed in the food or food simulant using an analytical method in accordance with the requirements of Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004.
For substances which are unstable in food simulant or food or for which no adequate analytical method is available it is indicated in Annex I that verification of compliance shall be undertaken by verification of residual content per 6 dm2 of contact surface. For materials and articles between 500 ml and 10 l the real contact surface is applied. For materials and articles below 500 ml and above 10 l as well as for articles for which it is impractical to calculate the real contact surface the contact surface is assumed to be 6 dm2 per kg food.
[F1To screen if a material or article complies with the migration limits any of the following approaches can be applied which are considered at least as severe as the verification method described in section 2.1.] U.K.
To screen for specific migration of non-volatile substances, determination of overall migration under test conditions at least as severe as for specific migration can be applied.
To screen for specific migration the migration potential can be calculated based on the residual content of the substance in the material or article assuming complete migration.
To screen for specific migration, the migration potential can be calculated based on the residual content of the substance in the material or article applying generally recognised diffusion models based on scientific evidence that are constructed in a way that must never underestimate real levels of migration.]
To screen for specific migration, food simulants can be replaced by substitute food simulants if it is based on scientific evidence that the substitute food simulants result in migration that is at least as severe as migration that would be obtained using the food simulants specified in Section 2.1.2.]
If the material or article is intended for a food contact application where it is successively subject to two or more time and temperature combinations, a single migration contact test time can be defined based on the highest contact test temperature from Section 2.1.3 and/or 2.1.4 by using the equation as described in point (f) of Section 2.1.4. The reasoning justifying that the resulting single test is at least as severe as the combined time and temperature combinations shall be documented in the supporting documentation provided for in Article 16.]
Textual Amendments
Overall migration testing shall be performed under the standardised testing conditions set out in this chapter.U.K.
The overall migration test for materials and articles intended for the food contact conditions described in column 3 of Table 3 shall be performed for the time specified and at the temperature specified in column 2. For test OM5 the test can be performed either for 2 hours at 100 °C (food simulant D2) or at reflux (food simulant A, B, C, D1) or for 1 hour at 121 °C. The food simulant shall be chosen in accordance with Annex III.
If it is found that carrying out the tests under the contact conditions specified in Table 3 causes physical or other changes in the test specimen which do not occur under worst foreseeable conditions of use of the material or article under examination, the migration tests shall be carried out under the worst foreseeable conditions of use in which these physical or other changes do not take place.
Standardised conditions for testing the overall migration
| Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Test number | Contact time in days [d] or hours [h] at Contact temperature in [°C] for testing | Intended food contact conditions |
| OM0 | 30 min at 40 °C | Any food contact at cold or ambient temperatures and for a short duration (≤ 30 minutes). |
| OM1 | 10 d at 20 °C | Any food contact at frozen and refrigerated conditions |
| OM2 | 10 d at 40 °C | Any long-term storage at room temperature or below, including when packaged under hot-fill conditions, and/or heating up to a temperature T where 70 °C ≤ T ≤ 100 °C for a maximum of t = 120/2^((T-70)/10) minutes. |
| OM3 | 2 h at 70 °C | Any food contact conditions that include hot-fill and/or heating up to a temperature T where 70 °C ≤ T ≤ 100 °C for maximum of t = 120/2^((T-70)/10) minutes, which are not followed by long-term room temperature or refrigerated storage. |
| OM4 | 1 h at 100 °C or at reflux | High temperature applications for all types of food at temperature up to 100 °C. |
| OM5 | 2 h at 100 °C or at reflux or alternatively 1 h at 121 °C | High temperature applications up to 121 °C. |
| OM6 | 4 h at 100 °C or at reflux | Any food contact conditions at a temperature exceeding 40 °C, and with foods for which point 4 of Annex III assigns simulants A, B, C or D1. |
| OM7 | 2 h at 175 °C | High temperature applications with fatty foods exceeding the conditions of OM5. |
Test OM 7 covers also food contact conditions described for OM0, OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4, OM5. It represents the worst case conditions for fatty food simulants in contact with non-polyolefins. In case it is technically not feasible to perform OM 7 with food simulant D2 the test can be replaced as set out in paragraph 3.2.
Test OM 6 covers also food contact conditions described for OM0, OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4 and OM5. It represents worst case conditions for food simulants A, B and C in contact with non-polyolefins.
Test OM 5 covers also food contact conditions described for OM0, OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4. It represents the worst case conditions for all food simulants in contact with polyolefins.
Test OM 2 covers also food contact conditions described for OM0, OM1 and OM3.]
[F3If it is not technically feasible to perform one or more of the tests OM0 to OM6 in food simulant D2, migration tests shall be done using ethanol 95 % and isooctane. In addition a test shall be done using food simulant E in case the worst foreseeable conditions of use exceed 100 °C. The test that results in the highest overall migration shall be used to establish compliance with the Regulation.
In case it is technically not feasible to perform OM7 with food simulant D2, either test OM8 or test OM9 shall be selected as a replacement test by selecting the most appropriate of these two tests on the basis of the intended and the foreseeable use of the material or article that is being tested. Subsequently, a migration test shall be done at each of the two test conditions specified for the selected test, using a new test sample for each test condition. The test condition that results in the higher overall migration shall be used to establish compliance with the Regulation.]
| Test number | Test conditions | Intended food contact conditions | Covers the intended food contact conditions described in |
|---|---|---|---|
| OM8 | Food simulant E for 2 hours at 175 °C and food simulant D2 for 2 hours at 100 °C | High temperature applications only | OM1, OM3, OM4, OM5 and OM6 |
| OM9 | Food simulant E for 2 hours at 175 °C and food simulant D2 for 10 days at 40 °C | High temperature applications including long term storage at room temperature | OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4, OM5 and OM6] |
At the end of the prescribed contact time, to verify compliance the overall migration is analysed in the food simulant using an analytical method in accordance with the requirements of Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004.
The applicable overall migration test shall be carried out three times on a single sample using another portion of food simulant on each occasion. The migration shall be determined using an analytical method in accordance with the requirements of Article 34 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2) . The overall migration in the second test shall be lower than in the first test, and the overall migration in the third test shall be lower than in the second test. Compliance with the overall migration limit shall be verified on the basis of the level of the overall migration found in the third test.
If it is not technically feasible to test the same sample three times, such as when testing in vegetable oil, the overall migration test can be carried out by testing different samples for three different periods of time lasting one, two and three times the applicable contact test time. The difference between the third and the second test results shall be considered to represent the overall migration. Compliance shall be verified on the basis of this difference, which shall not exceed the overall migration limit. In addition, the difference between the second and the first test results shall be lower than the first test results and the difference between the third and the second test results shall be lower than the difference between the second and the first test results.
By derogation from the first paragraph, if, on the basis of scientific evidence, it is established that for the material or article being tested the overall migration decreases in the second and third tests and if the overall migration limit is not exceeded in the first test, the first test alone shall be sufficient.] ]
[F1To screen if a material or article complies with the migration limits, any of the following approaches can be applied which are considered at least as severe as the verification method described in Sections 3.1 and 3.2.] U.K.
To screen for overall migration the migration potential can be calculated based on the residual content of migratable substances determined in a complete extraction of the material or article.
To screen for overall migration, food simulants can be replaced if based on scientific evidence the substitute food simulants result in migration that is at least as severe as migration that would be obtained using the food simulants specified in Annex III.]
For lipophilic substances for which in Annex I it is indicated in column 7 that the FRF is applicable the specific migration can be corrected by the FRF. The FRF is determined according to the formula FRF = (g fat in food/kg of food)/200 = (% fat × 5)/100.
The FRF shall be applied according to the following rules.
The migration test results shall be divided by the FRF before comparing with the migration limits.
The correction by the FRF is not applicable in the following cases:
when the material or article is or is intended to be brought in contact with food intended for infants and young children as defined by Directives 2006/141/EC and 2006/125/EC;
for materials and articles for which it is impracticable to estimate the relationship between the surface area and the quantity of food in contact therewith, for example due to their shape or use, and the migration is calculated using the conventional surface area/volume conversion factor of 6 dm2/kg.
[F1The specific migration in food or food simulant shall not exceed 60 mg/kg food before application of the FRF.]
[F4When testing is performed in food simulant D2 or E and when the test results are corrected in application of the correction factor laid down in Table 2 of Annex III this correction may be applied in combination with the FRF by multiplying both factors. The combined correction factor shall not exceed 5, unless the correction factor laid down in Table 2 of Annex III exceeds 5.]
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Textual Amendments
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[F1When testing at these accelerated test conditions the test specimen shall not undergo any physical or other changes compared to the real conditions of use, including a phase transition of the material.]
[F1 [F3Regulation (EU) 2017/625 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2017 on official controls and other official activities performed to ensure the application of food and feed law, rules on animal health and welfare, plant health and plant protection products, amending Regulations (EC) No 999/2001, (EC) No 396/2005, (EC) No 1069/2009, (EC) No 1107/2009, (EU) No 1151/2012, (EU) No 652/2014, (EU) 2016/429 and (EU) 2016/2031 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Council Regulations (EC) No 1/2005 and (EC) No 1099/2009 and Council Directives 98/58/EC, 1999/74/EC, 2007/43/EC, 2008/119/EC and 2008/120/EC, and repealing Regulations (EC) No 854/2004 and (EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Council Directives 89/608/EEC, 89/662/EEC, 90/425/EEC, 91/496/EEC, 96/23/EC, 96/93/EC and 97/78/EC and Council Decision 92/438/EEC (Official Controls Regulation) ( OJ L 95, 7.4.2017, p. 1 ).] ]