French DGCCRF updates food contact material standards

The French General Directorate for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) published new documents DM/4B/COM/002, DM/4B/COM/003, DM/4B/COM/004 for food contact materials (FCMs) made from inorganic materials (except metals), organic materials made from synthetic fibers and organic materials made from plant fibers in June 2016. The documents replace the specification in scope of Information Notice No. 2004-64 of 6 May 2004.
 
The document DM/4B/COM/002 mandates the requirements for inorganic materials (except metals), especially ceramics, glass, glass-ceramic, and enamel. It introduces new metal release limits for all articles except lip and rim area.

Parameter	Limit/ (mg/kg)	Test conditions
Aluminum (Al)	1	Successive migration for 24 h at 22°C in 4% acetic acid
Cobalt (Co)	0.02
Arsenic  (As)	not detectable (acceptable limit of quantitation 0.002)

 
The document DM/4B/COM/003 mandates the requirements for organic material made of synthetic fibers, especially plastics, complex material (multilayer) and rubber
-No technical change from the old note (just updating references of regulation)
-For rubber, the French decree 9/11/1994 is still valid. The European Regulation (EC) No 10/2011 is applicable to plastics and plastic layers in complex materials
 
The document DM/4B/COM/004 mandates the requirements for organic material made of plant fibers, especially paper and board, with or without coating.
-No technical change from the old note (just updating references of regulation)
 
In the scope of these documents, tablecloth has been removed from the exemption as FCM of the old note. Consequently such products are now considered as FCM irrespective from the materials they are made from.
 
A summary of all French recommendations related to FCMs are given in Table 1.

References	Scope
NI 2014-108	General requirements
DM/4B/COM/001-v01	Metal
DM/4B/COM/002-v01	Ceramic/glass/enamel/crystal
DM/4B/COM/003-v01	Plastic/ Complex materials/ Rubber
DM/4B/COM/004-v01	Paper & board/ Paper and board with coating
NI 2012-93	Wood

 
C&K Testing advises businesses exporting food contact materials to France should pay due attention to comply with the latest requirements.

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Further information
French DGCCFR (in French)
An update to French metal and alloy food contact materials——C&K Testing