Brussels - The Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) and the International Confederation of paper and board Converters in Europe (CITPA) have launched the voluntary ‘Industry Guideline for the Compliance of Paper& Board Materials and Articles for Food Contact’.

The Guideline, which has been independently peer reviewed by PIRA International, offers route to compliance with EC Framework regulation 1935/2004, which covers all materials and articles which come in contact with food. It gives guidance to paper and board producers as well as institutions and public authorities in how to ensure that paper and board meets the quality standards appropriate to its intended use in food contact. This means it will not endanger human health by causing an unacceptable change in the food’s composition or deterioration in the way the food tastes, looks, feels and smells.

The health and safety implications of food contact are taken very seriously by the paper industry. When it comes to consumer protection, the sector has cooperated at national government and EU level for many years.

Many of the materials which come into direct contact with food, such as cellulose film, plastics and ceramics, are subject to material-specific measures which apply uniformly throughout the EU. For paper, on the other hand, the picture is fragmented, with countries such as Germany, France, the Netherlands and Italy, having national legislation, while other countries simply conform with the more general, non-material specific regulation 1935/2004. The unintended impression given to buyers is that compliance for paper and board is less clear than for other materials.

So it is against this background that the European paper packaging value chain has compiled the voluntary Industry Guideline for the Compliance of Paper & Board Materials and Articles for Food Contact (the Guideline). CEPI will also publish a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) for the industry. Put simply, the Guideline spells out the rules, and the GMP describes a management system for those rules to be obeyed. GMP is not an optional bolt-on to the Guideline, but is required by Regulation 2023/2006, a general GMP requirement recently published by the European Commission.

“The Guideline offers, in the absence of a specifc measure, the alternative of self-regulation. There is now a period of opportunity during which the paper-based packaging chain can show that its own guidelines can deliver”, explains Jori Ringman, CEPI Recycling and Product Director.

The Food Contact guidelines can be downloaded under cepi.org.

Quelle: Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI)

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