Food packaging safety on the hottest edge of the w

Food packaging safety on the edge of the wave playback on November 22, 2005, the world famous food company Nestle food group of Switzerland was recalled a batch of baby milk in four European countries - France, Portugal, Spain and Italy. The reason is that during the sampling inspection of a batch of baby milk sold by Nestle group in Italy a few days ago, it was found that the UV printing ink of this batch of milk packaging materials contained a chemical substance called isopropylthiotonone (itx), which had penetrated into the milk

in November 2005, the Italian authorities confiscated thousands of liters of Nestle's baby milk, and the court ordered Nestle to recall a total of 2million liters of milk from its two Italian brands, nidina and latte Mio, making the itx incident the front page headlines of various media. In an instant, the spearhead pointed, and there was a sound of doubt

now, EFSA (European Food Safety Agency) has issued a statement on the itx incident. EFSA said that the presence of itx in food is not welcome, but according to the reported level of use, it will not threaten the health of consumers. So far, the itx storm has come to an end

however, the safety problems of packaging materials caused by this storm cannot be ignored. Our enterprises should understand that a standardized market demanding health and safety consumption is coming. For every enterprise walking in this market, only safety can make it go well all the way

looking back on the past 2005, each of us should be able to feel that people's attention and understanding of food safety go beyond the scope of food itself, and the safety of packaging materials has become one of the focuses of attention

domestic and foreign regulations on the safety of food packaging materials

abroad, countries and alliance organizations all over the world have made relevant management regulations on the safety of food packaging materials

in 2005, the EU strictly limited the content of heavy metals in packaging products in the current 94/62/EC regulation. Among them, the most stringent regulations are lead, cadmium, mercury and hexavalent chromium. It also explains in detail the detection methods and calculation methods of these four heavy metals. Taking a mineral water bottle as an example, it can be divided into three parts: bottle body, bottle cap and label. The content of lead, cadmium, mercury and hexavalent chromium in these three parts can not exceed 100ppm

because adhesives and inks in food packaging may contain harmful substances such as formaldehyde, benzene, toluene, xylene and methanol. The United States and the European Union have clearly stipulated in relevant laws that the type of adhesive and ink b1.01 used for food or drug packaging is prohibited as long as it is a chemical not mentioned in the regulations

recently, Germany has put forward new requirements for the packaging cartons used for Chinese exported food, requiring that the cartons should be sealed with glue as much as possible, and PVC or other plastic tapes should not be used. If plastic tapes have to be used, they must also be PE/Pb free tapes

not long ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a document entitled "key points for the application of recycled plastics in food packaging - Chemical concerns". The document evaluates the various applications of recycled plastics in food packaging, emphasizes the problems needing attention in the application of such products, and clearly stipulates the precautions for the application of recycled plastics in food packaging

in China, the safety of food packaging materials is not calm

on May 26, 2005, the general guidelines for green food packaging was officially issued, which clearly stipulates that expanded polystyrene, polyurethane and other products are not allowed for plastic products

on September 6, 2005, the Symposium on the hygiene and safety of plastic food packaging materials was held, and the quality and hygiene of food packaging was raised to an important level

on May 10, 2005, the notice on the revision of the implementation rules of safety and environmental protection certification was hung on the station of the bid winning Certification Center. Among them, the "rules for the implementation of food packaging/container products - plastic products" ranks first. Its final revised version will be issued by the national certification and Accreditation Administration as the implementation rules of the national 3C certification (compulsory concurrent product certification management system) of this kind of products

behind the regulations is the trend of the times, and the surge of the trend is the convergence of safety awareness. Our market needs safe and healthy products. If you don't realize or do the safety work in place, you will eventually lose this market

safety solutions for domestic food enterprises

the head of the production department of Nanjing dairy group said: "Safety is the first element of food quality. In improving the safety of liquid milk packaging, we strictly control suppliers and testing. In every cooperation with suppliers, suppliers are required to provide credible testing from friends, brothers and three parties, and health and epidemic prevention institutions to issue product full performance inspection reports. In addition, empty milk bottles used must undergo four disinfection procedures before filling."

Mr. Liu of the purchasing department of Prince milk group also agreed with this, saying, "there is no safe market without safe products. In order to ensure the safety of packaging materials, we strictly control four major tests: first, the packaging and testing department should carry out testing, then the application testing, and then the experimental testing of the quality control department, and finally the factory testing after leaving the factory."

the relevant person in charge of a large domestic dairy enterprise told us: "the safety and hygiene of food packaging materials should be grasped with several hands, and each hand should be hard. All our food packaging materials must be tested for solvent residues in packaging bags; suppliers are required to seal and store them in sealed packaging bags for inspection when the products are just off the production line."

there is a long way to go to achieve food safety

however, building a safe packaging material market is not for one enterprise or several enterprises, but more requires the joint efforts of the whole industry. We must be soberly aware that the safety situation of food plastic packaging in China is very serious, and many food plastic packaging materials on the market are difficult to meet the national requirements for food safety, health and environmental protection

of course, the reason for the current situation is also related to our country's management of the industry. For example, enterprises engaged in food plastic packaging have not been included in the scope of food industry health management, resulting in the absence of some clear regulations and controls on health and safety in the production of plastic materials for food packaging by these enterprises; The industry has not established an authoritative monitoring system and health and safety project detection system, thus ignoring some potentially harmful substances, such as heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, and carcinogens in oxides, pigments, and fuels in ink binders. In addition, there are many standard testing methods that are out of line with production, cannot be refined and lack pertinence. For example, at present, the solvent residue in food packaging plastic materials in China is required to be less than 10mg/m2, but it is not clear what kind of solvent it is

however, the lack of relevant supporting standards cannot be a reason for our enterprises to relax the safety requirements of packaging materials. For production enterprises, in the face of fierce competition, if they unilaterally pursue "efficiency", cost, give up the requirements of safety and health, and give up the sense of society, it is a dangerous game to dance on the tip of the knife. With the improvement of safety awareness of consumers who are convenient to operate, the introduction of relevant industry management regulations, and the establishment of product monitoring system, this game will undoubtedly be the last performance, whether wonderful or not

information source: packaging materials and containers