The Plastic Materials & Articles in Contact with Food (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2006 Statutory Instrument 2006 No. 2687 were laid before Parliament on 17 October 2006 & come into force 19/11/06. This instrument implements Commission Directive 2005/79/EC, which amends Commission Directive 2002/72/EC. This latest amendment sets out to alter the lists of permitted monomers & additives & their conditions of use in the manufacture of food contact plastics. In particular, for expodised soybean oil (ESBO), a specific limit of migration from food contact plastics into food has been established for its use in PVC gaskets used to seal the lids of glass food jars. The Specific Migration Limit (SML) is 60mg of ESBO per kg of food or food simulant. The manufacture & import of non-compliant materials/articles is prohibited from 19 November 2007. However, for those ESBO-containing PVC gaskets used to seal the lids of glass food jars containing infant & follow-on formulae, or containing processed cereal based foods & baby foods for infants & young children, the SML for ESBO has been set at 30mg/kg food or food simulant. Additionally, the EC Directive requires that the gaskets containing ESBO used in these applications be compliant with this migration limit by 19/11/06. The lower migration limit takes into account the fact that babies & infants can consume proportionately higher amounts of food from this source than adults, given their much smaller body weight. The Regulations revoke & replace the Plastic Materials & Articles in Contact with Food (England) Regulations 2006.
