3. There is a requirement to create a Declaration of Compliance. This is more than a simple specification and is part of EU law, which the BRC has adopted as a requirement. Its purpose (at least one of them) is to identify how you are able to justify that the product is safe for contact with the food. I will attcah some guidance on this. The Declaration should be sent out ideally with every delivery, but certainly once a year or if there is any change to the materials that you use. It is a big subject, and heavy going I am afraid.
I'm reading this thread with interest, thank's foodworker.
One point to add to the above is that packaging materials are not always globally suitable for all foods and all processing and usage parameters of the food producer and therefore must be proved by migration testing and shelf life trials etc.
For example imagine you intend to supply your packaging to a food producer customer that has a high fat product, that is hot filled at 95C and then frozen with a shelf life of 2 years. The legal suitability of your packaging for this product must be proven. So as a supplier either you or your raw material supplier will conduct migration tests with various simulants, which will prove whether or not the packaging material is legally suitable for use with high fat products and other food groups, but still it may not prove to 95C and 2 years shelf life.
As a packaging supplier you can recommend packaging specifications to your customer based on the tests you have conducted, but if their product and processing combination falls outside of your test data they must carry out there own tests. You must establish how they intend to use the packaging and make any limitations (untested parameters) clear to them during the contract review, sampling, trialling etc.
To be honest it's an absolute minefield.
I just wanted to make that clear, hope it makes sense.
Regards,
Simon