New UK packing guide provides companies with legal and best practice advice

The guidance will assist UK firms that manufacture or use materials and articles intended to come into contact with food. It also applies to those that could be brought into contact with food or that could be the source of chemical migration, said the FSA.

Target companies​

Target companies include material and article manufacturers, their raw material suppliers (such as those that supply polymer resins), material recyclers, converters, packers and fillers, importers and sellers on the market prior to the point of retail sale.

The 43-page document, called “Materials and Articles in Contact with Food”, was developed after consultation with the packing industry and local authorities to help businesses put together information dossiers on their products as required by a new regulation.

Agency spokesman Brad Smythe told FoodProductionDaily.com the guide had been produced specifically to help companies comply with new EU legislation that came into force in last month that obliges them to have a Declaration of Compliance.

“Under the legislation, companies are expected to provide certain information about their products to customers and local authorities. It is information they should already possess but collating it in one dossier will help authorities in terms of ease of inspection,”​ he said.

Best practice advice​

As well as laying out legal obligations, the guide also provides helpful advice on best practice in a single document , said the spokesman.

The guide was developed with feedback from a consultation session with businesses and enforcement officers held in November 2008, from responses to a full three-month public consultation and from an Agency-funded trial between cooperating business and enforcement authorities.

A full copy of the guide can be downloaded from the FSA website.​