Safety assessment of the process ‘PEGRA-V’, based on Starlinger IV+® technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials

Flavourings and Processing Aids (CEF) Panel on Food Contact Materials Enzymes; Vittorio Silano; Claudia Bolognesi; Laurence Castle; Jean-Pierre Cravedi; Karl-Heinz Engel; Paul Fowler; Konrad Grob; Rainer Gürtler; Trine Husøy; Sirpa Kärenlampi; Wim Mennes; André Penninks; Andrew Smith; Maria de Fátima Tavares Poças; Christina Tlustos; Detlef Wölfle; Holger Zorn; Corina-Aurelia Zugravu; Vincent Dudler; Nathalie Gontard; Cristina Nerin; Eugenia Lampi; Costantine Papaspyrides; Cristina Croera; Katharina Volk; Maria Rosaria Milana

doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4899

Safety assessment of the process ‘PEGRA-V’, based on Starlinger IV+® technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials

Flavourings and Processing Aids (CEF) Panel on Food Contact Materials Enzymes, Vittorio Silano, Claudia Bolognesi, Laurence Castle, Jean-Pierre Cravedi, Karl-Heinz Engel, Paul Fowler, Konrad Grob, Rainer Gürtler, Trine Husøy, Sirpa Kärenlampi, Wim Mennes, André Penninks, Andrew Smith, Maria de Fátima Tavares Poças, Christina Tlustos, Detlef Wölfle, Holger Zorn, Corina-Aurelia Zugravu, Vincent DudlerNathalie Gontard, Cristina Nerin, Eugenia Lampi, Costantine Papaspyrides, Cristina Croera, Katharina Volk, Maria Rosaria Milana

Medical Sciences

Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article

1 Citation (Scopus)

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Abstract

This scientific opinion of the EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids (CEF Panel) deals with the safety evaluation of the recycling process PEGRA-V (EU register number RECYC0137), which is based on the Starlinger IV+® technology. The input of the process is hot caustic washed and dried poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) flakes originating from collected post-consumer PET containers, containing no more than 5% of PET from non-food consumer applications. In this technology, washed PET flakes are dried and crystallised in a reactor, then extruded into pellets which are further crystallised in a second reactor. Crystallised pellets are then preheated in a third reactor and fed to the solid-state polycondensation (SSP) reactor. Having examined the challenge test provided, the Panel concluded that the three steps, drying and crystallisation, extrusion and crystallisation and SSP are the critical steps that determine the decontamination efficiency of the process. The operating parameters that control their performance are well defined and they are the temperature, the gas flow and the residence time for the drying and crystallisation step, and the temperature, the pressure and the residence time for the extrusion and crystallisation step and the SSP step. Under these conditions, it was demonstrated that the recycling process is able to ensure that the level of migration of potential unknown contaminants into food is below a conservatively modelled migration of 0.1 μg/kg food. Therefore, the Panel concluded that the recycled PET obtained from this process intended to be used up to 100% for the manufacture of materials and articles for contact with all types of foodstuffs for long-term storage at room temperature, with or without hotfill, is not considered of safety concern. Trays made of this recycled PET are not intended to be used, and should not to be used in microwave and conventional ovens.

Original language	English
Pages	e04899
Volume	15
No.	7
Specialist publication	EFSA Journal
Publisher	European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4899
Publication status	Published - 2017

Keywords

Starlinger IV+
PEGRA-V
food contact materials
plastic
poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET)
recycling process
safety assessment

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4899Licence: CC BY-ND

Safety assessment of the process ‘PEGRA-V’, based on Starlinger IV+® technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials
© 2017 European Food Safety Authority. EFSA Journal published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd on behalf of European Food Safety Authority. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and no modifications or adaptations are made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Final published version, 858 KBLicence: CC BY-ND

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Panel on Food Contact Materials Enzymes, F. A. P. A., Silano, V., Bolognesi, C., Castle, L., Cravedi, J.-P., Engel, K.-H., Fowler, P., Grob, K., Gürtler, R., Husøy, T., Kärenlampi, S., Mennes, W., Penninks, A., Smith, A., Tavares Poças, M. D. F., Tlustos, C., Wölfle, D., Zorn, H., Zugravu, C.-A., ... Milana, M. R. (2017). Safety assessment of the process ‘PEGRA-V’, based on Starlinger IV+® technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials. EFSA Journal, 15(7), e04899. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4899

Safety assessment of the process ‘PEGRA-V’, based on Starlinger IV+® technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials. / Panel on Food Contact Materials Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids (CEF); Silano, Vittorio; Bolognesi, Claudia et al.
In: EFSA Journal, Vol. 15, No. 7, 2017, p. e04899.

Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article

Panel on Food Contact Materials Enzymes, FAPA, Silano, V, Bolognesi, C, Castle, L, Cravedi, J-P, Engel, K-H, Fowler, P, Grob, K, Gürtler, R, Husøy, T, Kärenlampi, S, Mennes, W, Penninks, A, Smith, A, Tavares Poças, MDF, Tlustos, C, Wölfle, D, Zorn, H, Zugravu, C-A, Dudler, V, Gontard, N, Nerin, C, Lampi, E, Papaspyrides, C, Croera, C, Volk, K & Milana, MR 2017, 'Safety assessment of the process ‘PEGRA-V’, based on Starlinger IV+® technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials' EFSA Journal, vol. 15, no. 7, pp. e04899. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4899

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title = "Safety assessment of the process {\textquoteleft}PEGRA-V{\textquoteright}, based on Starlinger IV+{\textregistered} technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials",

abstract = "This scientific opinion of the EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids (CEF Panel) deals with the safety evaluation of the recycling process PEGRA-V (EU register number RECYC0137), which is based on the Starlinger IV+{\textregistered} technology. The input of the process is hot caustic washed and dried poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) flakes originating from collected post-consumer PET containers, containing no more than 5% of PET from non-food consumer applications. In this technology, washed PET flakes are dried and crystallised in a reactor, then extruded into pellets which are further crystallised in a second reactor. Crystallised pellets are then preheated in a third reactor and fed to the solid-state polycondensation (SSP) reactor. Having examined the challenge test provided, the Panel concluded that the three steps, drying and crystallisation, extrusion and crystallisation and SSP are the critical steps that determine the decontamination efficiency of the process. The operating parameters that control their performance are well defined and they are the temperature, the gas flow and the residence time for the drying and crystallisation step, and the temperature, the pressure and the residence time for the extrusion and crystallisation step and the SSP step. Under these conditions, it was demonstrated that the recycling process is able to ensure that the level of migration of potential unknown contaminants into food is below a conservatively modelled migration of 0.1 μg/kg food. Therefore, the Panel concluded that the recycled PET obtained from this process intended to be used up to 100% for the manufacture of materials and articles for contact with all types of foodstuffs for long-term storage at room temperature, with or without hotfill, is not considered of safety concern. Trays made of this recycled PET are not intended to be used, and should not to be used in microwave and conventional ovens.",

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author = "{Panel on Food Contact Materials Enzymes}, {Flavourings and Processing Aids (CEF)} and Vittorio Silano and Claudia Bolognesi and Laurence Castle and Jean-Pierre Cravedi and Karl-Heinz Engel and Paul Fowler and Konrad Grob and Rainer G{\"u}rtler and Trine Hus{\o}y and Sirpa K{\"a}renlampi and Wim Mennes and Andr{\'e} Penninks and Andrew Smith and {Tavares Po{\c c}as}, {Maria de F{\'a}tima} and Christina Tlustos and Detlef W{\"o}lfle and Holger Zorn and Corina-Aurelia Zugravu and Vincent Dudler and Nathalie Gontard and Cristina Nerin and Eugenia Lampi and Costantine Papaspyrides and Cristina Croera and Katharina Volk and Milana, {Maria Rosaria}",

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AU - Bolognesi, Claudia

AU - Castle, Laurence

AU - Cravedi, Jean-Pierre

AU - Engel, Karl-Heinz

AU - Fowler, Paul

AU - Grob, Konrad

AU - Gürtler, Rainer

AU - Husøy, Trine

AU - Kärenlampi, Sirpa

AU - Mennes, Wim

AU - Penninks, André

AU - Smith, Andrew

AU - Tavares Poças, Maria de Fátima

AU - Tlustos, Christina

AU - Wölfle, Detlef

AU - Zorn, Holger

AU - Zugravu, Corina-Aurelia

AU - Dudler, Vincent

AU - Gontard, Nathalie

AU - Nerin, Cristina

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AB - This scientific opinion of the EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids (CEF Panel) deals with the safety evaluation of the recycling process PEGRA-V (EU register number RECYC0137), which is based on the Starlinger IV+® technology. The input of the process is hot caustic washed and dried poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) flakes originating from collected post-consumer PET containers, containing no more than 5% of PET from non-food consumer applications. In this technology, washed PET flakes are dried and crystallised in a reactor, then extruded into pellets which are further crystallised in a second reactor. Crystallised pellets are then preheated in a third reactor and fed to the solid-state polycondensation (SSP) reactor. Having examined the challenge test provided, the Panel concluded that the three steps, drying and crystallisation, extrusion and crystallisation and SSP are the critical steps that determine the decontamination efficiency of the process. The operating parameters that control their performance are well defined and they are the temperature, the gas flow and the residence time for the drying and crystallisation step, and the temperature, the pressure and the residence time for the extrusion and crystallisation step and the SSP step. Under these conditions, it was demonstrated that the recycling process is able to ensure that the level of migration of potential unknown contaminants into food is below a conservatively modelled migration of 0.1 μg/kg food. Therefore, the Panel concluded that the recycled PET obtained from this process intended to be used up to 100% for the manufacture of materials and articles for contact with all types of foodstuffs for long-term storage at room temperature, with or without hotfill, is not considered of safety concern. Trays made of this recycled PET are not intended to be used, and should not to be used in microwave and conventional ovens.

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KW - food contact materials

KW - plastic

KW - poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET)

KW - recycling process

KW - safety assessment

U2 - 10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4899

DO - 10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4899

M3 - Article

SN - 1831-4732

VL - 15

SP - e04899

JO - EFSA Journal

JF - EFSA Journal

PB - European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)

ER -

Safety assessment of the process ‘PEGRA-V’, based on Starlinger IV+® technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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