Labels come in contact with food in the food industry. They can be applied directly on the edible or non-edible skin of the fruits or vegetables or cuts of fresh meat or cheese. As the adhesives can be toxic and even worse, migrate into food, the products that are being sold with labels must be FDA and BfR approved. Here is some more information about this process.
BfR or the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, or Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung is in charge of testing materials according to German regulations to prove that they are not toxic and harmful to be used. Their scheme of work has been accepted in many countries in the world who use their pattern to test the label solutions.
According to the BfR, the adhesives must be defined by the category they comply, so the independent testing institutions need to run some testing procedures. First of all, all the raw material components of the adhesive must be on the list by the German health department for use in contact with food. If the components are not listed, the adhesive won’t be BfR approved. If the components are listed, then the migration tests are performed. In case of migration above-set limits, the adhesive will be approved for indirect food contact whereas, in case of migration within the set limits, the adhesive is approved to be used directly on the food.
Here are the BfR certificates:
- °A – Indirect food contact
- °B – Direct contact with dry food
- °C – Direct contact with dry and wet no fatty food
- °D – Direct contact with fatty food
- °E – Direct application on fresh meat
FDA stands for Food and Drug Administration of the USA and it defines “labelling” as “all labels and other written, printed or graphic matters upon any article or any of its containers or wrappers, or accompanying an article.” This includes packaging, instructions, and products inserts.
The relationship between FDA and BfR is a close one as to where FDA regulations are applicable, BfR is often recognized as well. So, in order for the labels to be FDA approved it must be specified that the FDA lists all components of the adhesive is safe for use in contact with food. If this is achieved, the FDA will approve the labelling, as no migration tests follow.
When it comes to non-direct food labelling, all kinds of label material can be used but only in cases where the packaging substrate has enough barrier properties to prevent possible migration of the adhesive toxins onto the food. If that is not the case (if, for example, the packaging material has limited barrier properties) the used adhesives must have one of the BfRapprovals.
Finally, the direct food labelling must be strictly regulated with adhesives that are guaranteed not to migrate onto the food. This obliges the produces to obtain product labels with adhesives that have BfRcompliance for the type of food with which it will come in contact with.