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A few years ago, it became accepted that the plastics industry could use migration modelling for compliance testing. When a calculation confirms that the migration of a compound from a plastic material or article is below the specific migration limit, this is considered sufficient documentation for compliance with legislation. In the case of non-compliance, the result needs to be verified experimentally. The European Commission recommends that the enforcement authorities use migration modelling as well to avoid long and expensive analysis. The aim of the present work was to investigate the practical possibilities of implementing migration-modelling software as a tool in official food control and possibly in improving the own-check programmes of Danish plastic-converting plants. Food inspectors from nine regional food control centres initially attended a training course in the use of a commercial modelling software package and were supported further during the project period of about 1 year. They visited 40 producers of final plastic materials and articles, but mainly due to a lack of elementary knowledge of the detailed composition of the materials only 16 full migration calculations were performed. A major reason was a lack of information from those in the raw material supply chain who considered their products protected by commercial confidentiality. In general, the food inspectors were in favour of using migration modelling for future control visits.

Metals and alloys are widely applied as food contact materials, e.g. as process equipment in the food industry and as household utensils. Therefore, they are a potential source of food contamination. Migration of substances from food contact materials to food must not occur in amounts that endanger human health. Relevant for food contact materials made from metals and alloys are the migration (release) of metals, both the main components and foreseen impurities. In-house control based on a declaration of compliance, DoC, and supporting documentation at the producers and importers are important prerequisites to limit this contamination and to ensure compliance with the legislation. This is considered a general part of quality assurance, even though the European legislation does not specifically require a DoC for metals and alloys used as food contact materials. This Nordic guideline gives a short overview of toxicology, analytical feasibility, legislation and guideline values for release of metals from food contact materials. Therefore, the guideline will be a useful tool for industry and official food inspectors. The guideline is based on the work done by the Council of Europe, risk assessments from the European Food Safety Authority, EFSA, and by the WHO/FAO Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives, JECFA. Additional sources of information on metals in food are the plastic food contact material (EU regulation 10/2011) and the contaminants legislation (EU regulation 1881/2006). Vanadium 0.01 Zinc 5 a Deriving an SRL was found unneccessary. The outcome of this work is to recommend these values as guideline values for release from food contact materials made of metals and alloys, and to give additional Nordic comments, e.g. concerning toxicology and analytical feasibility.

Nordic questionnaire, including guidance list on edible mushrooms suitable and not suitable for marketing. For industry, trade and food inspectionOyster Mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) Mushrooms traded as foodNordic questionnaire, including guidance list on edible mushrooms suitable and not suitable for marketing.

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