On July 30, 2024, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) updated its guidelines on applying for either authorizing or modifying a post-consumer mechanical polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling process for materials and items that are intended to come into contact with food, following the new Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/1616 (FPF reported and here).
The updated guidelines explain how EFSA will evaluate the recycling process’ ability to remove contaminants. Applicants must provide detailed information about their recycling procedure, including how they collect and pre-process the PET, how they decontaminate it, post-processing, and intended use (FPF reported).
To assess safety, EFSA will use a challenge test with surrogate contaminants to determine the decontamination efficiency. They will then compare the level of any remaining contaminants in the recycled PET to a model that predicts how these contaminants might migrate into food. The goal is to ensure that the potential dietary exposure does not exceed 0.0025 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day, the “lowest threshold for toxicological concern (TTC) value.”
The application must include details on the recycling process, the results of the decontamination test, and a self-evaluation of the process. Based on the provided information, EFSA will then evaluate the safety of the PET recycling process.
Reference
