Safety assessment of the process Battenfeld-Cincinnati Germany, based on the Battenfeld technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials

The EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes and Processing Aids (CEP) assessed the safety of the recycling process Battenfeld-Cincinnati Germany (EU register number RECYC303), which uses the Battenfeld technology. The input consists of washed and dried poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) flakes mainly originating from collected post-consumer PET containers, with no more than 5% PET from non-food consumer applications. The flakes are heated and pre-decontaminated in an ■■■■■, then further decontaminated by extrusion to sheets ■■■■■. Having examined the challenge test provided, the Panel concluded that the ■■■■■ drying (step 2) and extrusion (step 3) are critical in determining the decontamination efficiency of the process. The operating parameters to control the performance of these critical steps are temperature and residence time for step 2, temperature, throughput and pressure for step 3. The Panel concluded that this recycling process is able to ensure that the level of migration of potential unknown contaminants into food is below the conservatively modelled migration of 0.15 μg/kg food, exposure scenario for toddlers, under the following conditions of use of the recycled PET: (a) 45% in mixtures with virgin PET to produce trays for storage of fruits and vegetables up to 30 days at room temperature or below, (b) 100% to produce cups for storage of soft drinks and beers up to 1 day at room temperature or below, (c) 100% to produce trays for meat storage up to 30 days at 6°C. Hotfill is not included. Therefore, the Panel concluded that the recycled PET produced by this process is not of safety concern when used under the evaluated conditions. The final articles made of this recycled PET are not intended to be used in microwave and conventional ovens and such uses are not covered by this evaluation.