Materials that come into contact with food are subject to European legislation. Under good manufacturing practice and normal conditions, they must not release ingredients into the food in quantities that are likely to

• endanger human health,
• an unacceptable change in the composition of the food or
• cause an adverse effect on the organoleptic properties of the food (e.g. taste or smell).

If you recycle previously used plastics in order to reuse the materials in food contact materials such as packaging, these could be contaminated with other substances. To prevent this, you must have your specific recycling process checked and approved in advance by the European Commission.

As a manufacturer of food contact materials, you are responsible for compliance with food law requirements. You must therefore ensure that such contact materials are harmless to health.

You can only submit an application for approval of a recycling process for food contact plastics via the online portal E-Submission Food Chain Platform (ESFC).

The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) is the national point of contact in Germany. If you select the BVL as your contact point, the BVL will formally check the application for completeness and relevance of the documents. The BVL then forwards it to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

EFSA prepares a scientific opinion on each application, which serves as the basis for the European Commission's authorization decision.

If your recycling process meets the legal and technical requirements, the process may be used. If conditions or restrictions are attached to the authorization, companies must comply with them.

If you gain new scientific or technical knowledge that may affect the assessment of the safety of the substance in relation to human health, you must inform the Commission immediately.