The Food Standards Agency has published a new guide aimed at businesses involved in food packaging and at those bodies that enforce the rules governing such businesses.

The guide will help companies that, in the course of their business, manufacture or use materials and articles intended to come into contact with food. It also applies to those that could be brought into contact with food or that could be the source of chemical migration into food. These materials and articles include food packaging, processing and serving equipment, kitchen utensils, tableware and patio-ware, cooking pots and pans.

Target companies include material and article manufacturers, their raw material suppliers (such as those that supply polymer resins), material recyclers, converters, packers and fillers, importers and sellers on the market prior to the point of retail sale.

The advice is also relevant to environmental and port health and trading standards officers involved in the enforcement of the law governing chemical migration from these materials and articles.

The guide is for those that operate in the United Kingdom, and refers to parallel legislation in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland where appropriate.

 To read the guide click here.