Mercosur –Updates on Technical Regulations for Plastic Food Contact Articles Proposed

Vol. 1180 | 12 Aug 2020

The Southern Common Market (Mercosur), comprised of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, Venezuela and Bolivia, has published two draft resolutions to amend the Technical Regulations for plastic food contact articles. The key points of these two resolutions are summarized as follows:

Draft GMC* Resolution No. 02/20 amending No. 56/92 on general provisions for plastic food contact articles

1. Overall migration limit
   1. In general, the overall migration limit will be standardized to 10 mg/dm².
   2. By considering the actual relationship between food contact surface area and the mass of food, the migration value for articles with definite volume can be expressed in mg/kg. In this case, the overall migration limit will become 60 mg/kg.
   3. The overall migration limit for articles intended for infants and children under 3 years old will become 60 mg/kg.
   4. New provisions are added for caps, gaskets, stoppers and other closures, and coatings applied to containers and pipes for liquid transport.
2. Colorants
   Colorants used in plastic food contact articles will be governed by another technical regulation. To date, colorants shall comply with GMC Resolution No. 15/10.

Draft GMC Resolution No. 03/20 amending No. 02/12 on positive list of monomers, other starting substances and polymers for manufacture of plastic food contact articles

Besides adding authorized substances and amending the notes to the positive list, Mercosur proposes the following changes:

1. Various groups of chemical salts will be authorized for use, but will not be included in the positive list.
   
   For the following groups of metal salts, specific migration limits (SML) have been defined:
   • Aluminium: 1 mg/kg food or food simulant
   • Barium: 1 mg/kg food or food simulant
   • Cobalt: 0.05 mg/kg food or food simulant
   • Copper: 5 mg/kg food or food simulant
   • Iron: 48 mg/kg food or food simulant
   • Lithium: 0.6 mg/kg food or food simulant
   • Manganese: 0.6 mg/kg food or food simulant
   • Nickel: 0.02 mg/kg food or food simulant
   • Zinc: 5 mg/kg food or food simulant

   In addition, salts of ammonium, calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium are also approved, but without defined specific migration limits.

2. Requirements will be added for primary aromatic amines (PAAs) which are not on the positive list. These PAAs should not migrate to food or food simulants in detectable amounts. The detection limit of the sum of migrating PAAs will be 0.01 mg/kg food or food simulant.

*Grupo Mercado Comum (Common Market Group)

For additional information please contact:

Laureen Leung
laureen.leung@intertek.com
+852 3760 6361