Selecting Food Simulants and Contact Conditions under EU Regulation
EU food simulant and condition selection requires matching food chemistry and thermal exposure to Regulation 10/2011 matrices to secure legal market access.
Standard En 13130
Meaning
European testing standards specify general requirements and analytical methods for measuring specific migration of regulated monomers and additives from plastic materials into food simulants. Testing laboratories implement standard en 13130 to demonstrate regulatory compliance of food contact packaging and kitchenware components. The multi-part standard defines exposure conditions, stimulant media selection, and analytical quantification techniques for restricted substances like caprolactam and bisphenol A. It stops at measuring chemical migration levels and does not evaluate physical package strength.
Analytical Protocol
Food simulant liquids including water, three percent acetic acid, ten percent ethanol, and rectified olive oil reproduce the extraction characteristics of diverse food types. Testing conducted under standard en 13130 exposes plastic test specimens to food simulants at controlled time and temperature conditions representing actual use scenarios. Following exposure, high performance liquid chromatography or gas chromatography quantifies chemical migrant concentrations transferred from the polymer matrix into the simulant liquid.
Specific Migration
Injection moulders producing food containers must ensure that specific migration limits established for regulated additives are not exceeded during product use. Over-processing polymer resins at excessive melt temperatures causes thermal degradation that increases volatile monomer migration above statutory limits defined in standard en 13130. Lowering barrel temperature profiles and reducing melt residence times minimizes polymer degradation, maintaining migration levels well within legal thresholds.
Regulatory Compliance
Exceeding specific migration limits invalidates food contact compliance declarations, rendering finished packaging articles illegal for commercial sale. Manufacturers conduct routine migration testing to ensure continuous regulatory adherence across production lots.
Resolving Proprietary Masterbatch Disclosures in Converted Packaging Declaration Supply Chains
Converters resolve masterbatch secrecy through third party compliance trusts and standardized specific migration testing protocols.