The quality and safety of materials and articles which come into contact with food need to be controlled. The European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (EDQM) therefore develops guidelines for such items through the work of the European Committee for Food Contact Materials and Articles (CD-P-MCA). As part of this mission, the EDQM has published an inter-laboratory study on multi-analyte methods for the determination of substances migrating from printing inks to food or food simulants. These new methods were validated by 11 control laboratories and are intended for competent authority laboratories and for private laboratories to assess the safety of food contact materials and articles.
The study was conducted in 2020 and resulted in the successful validation of analytical procedures to detect contaminants (6 photoinitiators, 3 related degradation products and 1 plasticiser) which can pass into food from printed packaging. The validation data are reported in an annex of the publication. It follows the adoption in 2020 by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe of Resolution CM/Res(2020)9 on the safety and quality of materials and articles for contact with food, which aims at harmonising regulatory approaches to consumer health protection in member states.
Download “Food contact materials and articles – Substances migrating from printing inks to food or food simulants” for free from the EDQM Freepub website.
See also:
- More information on the work of the EDQM/Council of Europe on ensuring the safety and quality of food contact materials and articles
- Publications on food contact materials and articles
- Terms of reference of the European Committee for Food Contact Materials and Articles (CD-P-MCA)