TY - JOUR
T1 - Safety assessment of the process STF, based on EREMA Basic technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials
AU - EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes and Processing Aids (CEP)
AU - Silano, Vittorio
AU - Barat Baviera, José Manuel
AU - Bolognesi, Claudia
AU - Chesson, Andrew
AU - Cocconcelli, Pier Sandro
AU - Crebelli, Riccardo
AU - Gott, David Michael
AU - Grob, Konrad
AU - Mortensen, Alicja
AU - Rivière, Gilles
AU - Steffensen, Inger Lise
AU - Tlustos, Christina
AU - Van Loveren, Henk
AU - Vernis, Laurence
AU - Zorn, Holger
AU - Dudler, Vincent
AU - Milana, Maria Rosaria
AU - Papaspyrides, Constantine
AU - Poças, Maria de Fátima Tavares
AU - Lioupis, Alexandros
AU - Volk, Katharina
AU - Lampi, Evgenia
PY - 2020/3/1
Y1 - 2020/3/1
N2 - The EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes and Processing Aids (CEP) assessed the safety of the recycling process STF (EU register number RECYC177) which uses the EREMA Basic technology. The input material is hot caustic washed and dried poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) flakes originating from collected post-consumer PET containers including no more than 5% PET from non-food consumer applications. The flakes are heated in a continuous reactor under vacuum before being extruded. The Panel concluded that the continuous reactor (step 2, for which a challenge test was provided), is critical in determining the decontamination efficiency of the process. The operating parameters that control the performance of this step are temperature, pressure and residence time. It was demonstrated that this recycling process is able to ensure a level of migration of potential unknown contaminants into food below the conservatively modelled migration of 0.1 μg/kg food derived from the exposure scenario for infants when such recycled PET is used at up to 100%. Therefore, the Panel concluded that the recycled PET obtained from this process is not of safety concern when used at up to 100% for the manufacture of materials and articles for contact with all types of foodstuffs, including drinking water, for long-term storage at room temperature, with or without hotfill. Articles made of this recycled PET are not intended to be used in microwave and conventional ovens and such uses are not covered by this evaluation.
AB - The EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes and Processing Aids (CEP) assessed the safety of the recycling process STF (EU register number RECYC177) which uses the EREMA Basic technology. The input material is hot caustic washed and dried poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) flakes originating from collected post-consumer PET containers including no more than 5% PET from non-food consumer applications. The flakes are heated in a continuous reactor under vacuum before being extruded. The Panel concluded that the continuous reactor (step 2, for which a challenge test was provided), is critical in determining the decontamination efficiency of the process. The operating parameters that control the performance of this step are temperature, pressure and residence time. It was demonstrated that this recycling process is able to ensure a level of migration of potential unknown contaminants into food below the conservatively modelled migration of 0.1 μg/kg food derived from the exposure scenario for infants when such recycled PET is used at up to 100%. Therefore, the Panel concluded that the recycled PET obtained from this process is not of safety concern when used at up to 100% for the manufacture of materials and articles for contact with all types of foodstuffs, including drinking water, for long-term storage at room temperature, with or without hotfill. Articles made of this recycled PET are not intended to be used in microwave and conventional ovens and such uses are not covered by this evaluation.
KW - EREMA Basic
KW - Food contact materials
KW - Plastic
KW - Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET)
KW - Recycling process
KW - Safety assessment
KW - STF Recycling GmbH
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85081899332&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2903/j.efsa.2020.6050
DO - 10.2903/j.efsa.2020.6050
M3 - Article
C2 - 32874262
AN - SCOPUS:85081899332
SN - 1831-4732
VL - 18
JO - EFSA Journal
JF - EFSA Journal
IS - 3
M1 - e06050
ER -