Surveys on chemical migrants from food contact materials and articles and formaldehyde from melamine-ware

• This information sheet reports the results of the latest Agency, funded survey on the migration of formaldehyde, and hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) expressed as formaldehyde, from melamine-ware. The first survey was reported in Food Survey Information Sheet No 55/04. Based on those results samples from the Far East were targeted in this follow-on survey.
• This is the first part of a four-year rolling series of surveys on the chemical migration of substances from food contact materials and articles. This new survey on melamine-ware was commissioned to ascertain whether the UK market is now free from noncompliant products.
• 50 samples have been tested to see whether the Total Specific Migration Limit (SML (T)) for formaldehyde and HMTA is being observed. This SML(T) of 15 mg/kg (equivalent to 2.5 milligrams per square decimetre) is given in European Commission Directive 2002/72/EC as amended.
• Migration was detected from 43 of the samples tested. Most of the levels found were well below the limits set in law such that 84 per cent of the samples tested 2/18 were compliant. However, from eight samples formaldehyde levels were clearly above the legal maximum at 6-65 times the SML(T).
• The Agency took immediate action, working with local enforcement officers and suppliers, to ensure that non-compliant goods were withdrawn from the market. The European Commission and other EU Member States were also informed so that they could take any necessary action.

In May 2004, the Agency published a Food Survey Information Sheet (FSIS 55/04) entitled ‘Chemicals used in plastic materials and articles in contact with food: compliance with statutory limits on composition and migration – year 2’.1 As part of this 2004 survey, 50 melamine-ware articles were tested for the migration of melamine and formaldehyde (with HMTA expressed as formaldehyde) into a food simulant. In most cases levels found were well below the limits in law, however, in 5 samples formaldehyde levels were clearly above the legal maximum (8-76 times higher). A more detailed description of the work undertaken on melamine-ware in this survey, the rationale behind the testing conditions, the methodology used and a discussion of the possible cause of formaldehyde migration were given in a peer-reviewed publication.

As the first part of a four-year rolling programme of surveys on migration from food contact materials and articles, this new follow-on survey on melamine-ware was commissioned to ascertain whether the UK market is now free from such non-compliant products. Fifty samples have been tested using the analytical method described in FSIS 55/04 to see whether the Total Specific Migration Limit (SML (T)) for formaldehyde, and HMTA expressed as formaldehyde, is being observed. This SML (T) is given in European Commission Directive 2002/72/EC as amended. In response to the findings of the 2004 survey, samples from the Far East were targeted.