What are food contact materials?
Any food contact material sold in the European market is subject to the provisions of the European Framework Regulation 1935/2004. This Regulation defines food contact materials as:
Materials and objects that are in their finished state:
- intended to come into contact with food, or
- are already in contact with food and are intended for that purpose, or
- can reasonably be expected to come into contact with food or to transfer to food their constituents under normal or foreseeable use.
Examples of consumer products that fall within the scope of Regulation 1935/2004 are napkins, plates and drinking cups, as well as kitchen appliances such as blenders and coffee makers.

What can we help our clients with?
- Building product compliance protocol
- Validation & verification of technical documentation
- Meet minimum legal requirements
- Zero measurement & risk analysis
- Internal audit
- Handling complaints and recalls
- Audit support
- Training
The European Framework Regulation
The regulation describes the general requirements that food contact materials must meet. All materials and articles intended to come into direct or indirect contact with food may:
- Do not release constituents into food in amounts that may be hazardous to human health, or
- that may result in an unacceptable change in the composition of the food, or
- which can lead to deterioration of odor, color and taste of foods.
To ensure compliance with these provisions of the Framework Regulation, food contact materials must be manufactured in accordance with good manufacturing practice. The requirements for good manufacturing practice are described in European GMP Regulation 2023/2006.
National legislation
The number of food contact materials for which safety requirements are regulated at the European level is limited. Additional national legislation therefore applies in several European member states. In the Netherlands, the requirements for food contact materials are laid down in the Warenwetregeling Verpakkingen en Gebruiksartikelen. The Dutch Commodities Act Regulation sets out the essential requirements for each material in a separate chapter.
European regulations and directives
Because each material is composed of different components, specific requirements for various materials are laid down in separate European regulations and directives:
- Regulation 10/2011 (plastics)
- Regulation 282/2008 (recycled plastic).
- Directive 84/500 (ceramics)
- Directive 93/11 (rubber)
- Regulation 1895/2005 (epoxy polymers).
- Directive 2007/42 (regenerated cellulose).
- Regulation 284/2011 (melamine and polyamide)
- Regulation 450/2009 (active and intelligent packaging)
The main components of these specific requirements are:
- A list of substances authorized for production of food contact materials (with or without special conditions of use),
- purity standards for these substances,
- A general limit on the release of constituents to food (overall migration),
- specific limits on the release of certain constituents into food (specific migration),
- specific provisions to ensure traceability of materials and articles,
- statement of compliance requirements.
What are your obligations?
Do you want to sell food contact materials under your own brand name on the European market? Then you will face several legal obligations.
Regulation 1935/2004 states that food contact materials subject to European legislation must be accompanied by a Declaration of Conformity. Through this declaration you confirm that your material or product meets the applicable legal requirements. The required information in the Declaration of Conformity varies per material and can be found in the specific legislation. A Declaration of Conformity should only be made when sufficient adequate documentation is available to demonstrate compliance with the legal requirements.
The safety requirements for food contact materials relate primarily to the release of constituents into food (migration). The release of constituents is tested with a migration test. A migration test measures whether and which constituents from the material enter food under normal use of your product.
Specific legislation specifies the quantities of each ingredient allowed (migration limits). Which migration limits apply to your product depends on the components used in the production of the material.
In order to assess whether migration of constituents occurs with the anticipated use of a product, the migration test should simulate these conditions as closely as possible. The conditions under which a migration test is performed therefore depend on the following factors:
- The type of food with which the material comes into contact;
- The time frame in which the material comes into contact with the foodstuff;
- the temperature at which the material comes into contact with the foodstuff.
The rules for choosing the right conditions are laid down in the applicable European legislation and the Dutch Warenwetregeling.
Your roadmap.
In order to sell your product on the European market, there are a number of things you need to take care of:
Based on the material used, you can determine which European legislation and which chapter in the Dutch Warenwetregeling applies to your product. Do you also want to sell your product in other member states? Then investigate whether specific requirements apply to the material used in these countries.
The information on the constituents used can be used to determine which constituents are subject to a migration limit.
Using the information about the constituents used and the applicable migration limits, you can determine whether the migration of constituents from the material should be tested.
Based on the logically expected operating conditions, determine the appropriate test conditions when performing the necessary migration tests.
Before you may prepare a Declaration of Conformity, sufficient documentation must be available to demonstrate compliance with the legal requirements. The Dutch Commodities Act regulation also requires companies to have this documentation.
After you have gathered sufficient adequate documentation, prepare a Declaration of Conformity. This is required only if the applicable legislation requires it. The legislation describes what information must be included in a Statement of Compliance.
Related trainings.

Need help with safe & fair products?
Our professionals will be happy to help you!