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1999
Conference Paper
Titel
Review of EU Regulations on Food Contact Plastic Materials and Articles
Abstract
The principal aim of the regulations for food contact materials and articles is the protection of the consumer. In order to fulfill this goal, the Commission of the European Communities has published 21 Directives during the last 30 years, most of which are related to plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs. This review of E.U. Regulations provides the basic rules necessary for testing migration of constituents of plastic materials such as the migration test conditions (times and temperatures), selection of food simulants, substitute fat test for overall and specific migration, determination of overall and specific migration and migration limits for some monomers and other starting substances. In Arabic Countries, there are no legislations which organize the use of plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs. For this reason, the authors suggest that Arab authorities may lay down the necessary legislations for quality control of plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs, and to establish the needed laboratories equipped with all modern analytical techniques for the purpose of the determination of overall and specific migration levels from the plastic materials and articles into foodstuffs.