China Consults on General Safety Requirements for Food Contact Materials and Products

This standard is formulated to provide regulatory standards to ensure the safety of all food contact materials and products that could possibly come into contact with food. The standard specifies the general requirements, limitation requirements, conformity principles, testing methods, traceability and product information requirements. It is expected that once the draft is finalized it will be promulgated shortly.

The main contents are detailed as follows

• Basic requirements, in reference to GB 9685

• Control over non-intentionally added substances

• Management of substances with a migration limit lower than 0.01mg/kg behind the barrier layer

• Management of composite materials and blended materials

• Requirements on production process

For substances not directly in contact with food that have a barrier layer to effectively block from contact with food, although not included in the corresponding national food safety standards, manufacturers of these food contact materials and products should carry out safety assessment and ensure the substance is limited to a migration limit lower than 0.01mg/kg. However, the principles are inapplicable to nanomaterials and chemicals carcinogens both teratogenic and mutagenic.