On October 17, 2013, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published scientific opinion on the safety assessment of the process “4PET” used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials.
Abstract
This scientific opinion of EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids deals with the safety assessment of the recycling process 4PET, (EU register number RECYC047). The input of the process is hot caustic washed and dried PET flakes originating from collected post-consumer PET containers, mainly bottles, containing no more than 5 % of PET from non-food consumer applications. Through this process, washed and dried PET flakes are melted and extruded into pellets (step 2). The pellets are then crystallised before being fed into a batch solid state polymerisation (SSP) reactor at high temperature and under vacuum (step 3). Having examined the challenge test provided, the Panel concluded that the crystallisation and the solid state polymerisation (step 3) is the critical step for decontamination efficiency of the process. The operating parameters to control its performance are well defined and are the temperature, the pressure and the residence time. The operating parameters of this step in the process are at least as severe as those obtained from the challenge test. Under these conditions, it was demonstrated that the recycling process is able to ensure that the level of migration of potential unknown contaminants into food is below a conservatively modelled migration of 0.1 μg/kg food. Therefore the Panel concluded that the recycled PET obtained from this process intended to be used up to 100 % for the manufacture of materials and articles for contact with all types of foodstuffs for long term storage at room temperature, with or without hotfill is not considered of safety concern.
