Future European Regulation on Adhesives for Food Contact Articles, 2005 PLACE Conference

Food contact materials are used for the production of articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs and shall not transfer their components into the foodstuff in unacceptable quantities. These articles are requested to not influence the food they contact, neither toxicologically i. e. no health threat for the end user, nor may they change the composition of the food or its properties like smell, taste and appearance. On the European level two authorities deal with questions of food safety. One is the Council of Europe and the other is the European Union. While the decisions of the European Union are obligatory for national legislations, those of the Council of Europe are only a recommendation. For adhesives, the European Regulations are not harmonized. As is the case with all other materials, adhesives have to fulfill the requirements of the current framework regulation. In the framework regulation (EC)1935/2004 in annex 1 adhesives are listed for the first time, along with sixteen other groups of materials or articles for which special directives or regulations are planned. Although the draft of the so-called "Super Regulation" intends to include the migration contributions of the adhesives used in multilayer constructions it does not mention a specific regulation.