Food Packaging Analysis
An increasing amount of food is sold in packaging material. The packaging has to fulfill more and more requirements. Firstly, packaging shall sell, and carry all necessary information about the product, the ingredients and guidance on storage and preparation of food. Packaging shall be stable and fit for its purpose. It shall protect against microbial deterioration, and it shall be safe.
Materials and articles that come into contact with food are object of serious public concern. They must fulfill severe requirements on physical and chemical safety. This regards packaging, but also bottles, foils, tin cans, papers and its caps, dinnerware, cutlery etc. made of whatever material.
- List of authorised substances (Monomers, additives, production aids etc). Commission Regulation (EU) No. 10/2011 contains an exhaustive list of the substances that can be used in the production of plastics for food contact (Monomers, additives, production aids etc). The list also contains information on how the substances can be used and if there are specific requirements for them such as a specific migration limit or a limit to the residual content.
- Overall migration limits In an overall migration test, we examine the total amount of substances that have migrated from the material or article into the foodstuff. The specified limit value is 10 mg/dm2. The overall migration is determined by means of different food simulants in accordance with the European standard EN 1186.
- Specific migration limits The migration of remaining monomers, additives, plasticisers and solvents in materials and articles intended to come into contact with food is regulated by Regulation No. 10/2011/EC based on the toxicity of the individual substance. We can calculate the maximum migration of the substances, conduct tests according to the current standards or simulate the migration using migration modelling.
Migration Analysis
The migration analysis test is frequently required to demonstrate compliance of a food contact material with the applicable legislation. Commission Regulation EU 10/2011 had clear prescribed the rule of migration test for plastic food contact materials while ceramics and regenerated cellulose are covered by specific European regulation. The rule of migration analysis test for other materials, such as paper & board, metals, rubbers, coating, and printing inks has been established in national regulations or industry guidelines. The services provided include:
- Chemical Analysis
- Performance Analysis
- Migration Analysis
- Microbiological Analysis
- Consultation
Eurofins Malaysia has all expertise and techniques to investigate the raw materials as well as finished goods of the packaging materials to perform migration analysis test which in conformity with relevant European Directives and ISO or EN Standards. Lastly, Eurofins Malaysia does offer a consultation based on the specific product and application for fulfilling all legal requirements and any additional purchase specification.
The recommended food stimulant as following:
- Overall Migration test using Food Simulant A - 10% Ethanol
- Overall Migration test using Food Simulant B - 3% Acetic Acid
- Overall Migration test using Food Simulant C - 20% Ethanol
- Overall Migration test using Food Simulant D1 - 50% Ethanol
- Overall Migration test using Food Simulant D2 - Iso-Octane
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