Colorants in food contact materials
The Council of Europe is currently developing a resolution on the use of printing inks on non-food contact surfaces of food packaging. The resolution will provide the basis for future European regulations.
ETAD has been asked to assist in the formulation of the sections that relate to organic colorants, mainly pigments. ETAD is advocating that the resolution should avoid overly stringent quality requirements. There is pressure for a list of allowed colorants and other components to be developed. However, ETAD does not believe that such a list is warranted for this application. Such a list imposes substantial registration and testing costs. It is also likely that REACH will force the withdrawal of many pigments from the EU market due to unacceptable testing costs.
ETAD and CEPE have cooperated closely to develop a common position for representations to the experts from the Council of Europe. Inventories of dyes and pigments currently used in food packaging printing inks, quality specifications and set-off exposure estimates have also been prepared. Our members benefit from this work as they can avoid excessive analytical and testing costs and a prolonged registration process.