Plastics Materials

The types of food contact materials continue to increase, and the resulting safety issues continue to appear. GIG's analysis of the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) in the past three years and found that the recall rate of plastics is close to 50%, and Polyamide/nylon products are the main products, and the high-risk substances of this material are mainly primary aromatic amines. The following is an excerpt of typical case and our analysis and suggestions.

Analysis

1. The primary aromatic amine (PAAs) is mainly due to the decomposition of azo dye and certain crosslinking agents and accelerators.

2. In the Regulation (EU) No. 10/2011, stipulates migration of PAAs as follows. PAAs listed in entry 43 to Appendix 8 of Annex XVII to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council and for which no migration limit is specified in Table 1 of Annex I shall not migrate or shall not otherwise be released from plastic materials and articles into food or food simulant. They shall not be detectable using analytical equipment with a limit of detection of 0,002 mg/kg food or food simulant applied to each individual PAA, in accordance with Article 11.

Our Advise

1. Migration of PAAs in nylon tableware exceeds the standard, which is a notifiable substance frequently enforced by RASFF.

2. Relevant enterprises should be familiar with the laws and regulations of exporting countries, avoid using polyimide adhesives and azo dyes that may produce harmful aromatic amines in the production process of food contact materials;

3. Relevant enterprises should speed up the development of new harmless materials and dye products.

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