Ukraine Consults Over Proposed Order on Food Contact Plastics

SG 132/23

Ukraine has initiated a 10-day consultation on its draft order on food contact plastics. If approved, the provisions will become effective on November 19, 2025.

On October 2, 2023, Ukraine’s Ministry of Health announced draft Order ‘On Approval of Special Requirements for Plastic Materials and Articles Intended to Come into Contact with food’.

The draft order intends to approve a set of ‘special requirements’ for food contact plastics by implementing Regulation (EU) 10/2011 from the European Union (consolidated version to August 2023 for reference). It:

• Details the scope of food contact plastics
• Exempts ion exchange resins, rubber, silicones, printing inks, adhesives and varnishes/coatings
• Stipulates the requirements for the composition of food contact plastics. These include but are not limited to the use of the list of authorized monomers, other starting substances, macromolecules obtained from microbial fermentation (positive list, Appendix 1) or substances included in the state register for the manufacture of food contact plastics
• Details general requirements, restrictions and technical specifications, including:
• Specific migration limits (SML)
• ≤ 0.01 mg/kg SML for substances or groups of substances without an established detection limit
• A general set of specific migration requirements for several substances (Appendix 2, see Table 1 below)
• ≤ 10 mg/dm² overall migration limit (OML), otherwise ≤ 60 mg/kg OML for plastic materials and articles intended to be brought into contact with food intended for infants and young children
• ≤ 0.002 mg/kg for each (of the 22) primary aromatic amines (PAA, Appendix 3)
• ≤ 0.01 mg/kg for the sum of PAA not listed in Appendix 3 and where there is no migration limit specified in Table 1 to Appendix 1 (positive list)
• Prescribes the provisions for 1) plastic multi-layer materials and articles, and 2) multi-material multi-layer materials and articles.

Draft Order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, October 2, 2023
Appendix 2 to Special Requirements for Plastic Materials and Articles Intended to Come into Contact with Food (per draft order text)

¹ SML may be exceeded at very high temperature

² Less stringent limit of 3.6 mg/kg applies if pre-existing documentation demonstrates Cr (VI) is excluded

³ Lanthanides (europium, gadolinium, lanthanum, and/or terbium) can be used according to Clause 4(2) of Section III to the Special Requirements subject to SML is no more than 0.05 mg/kg for the sum of all lanthanide substances and the analytical evidence using a procedure demonstrating the lanthanide substance(s) used are present in dissociated ionic form in food or food simulant forms part of the documentation in Clause 10 of Section III to Special Requirements

Table 1

It is interesting to note that the draft order has not adopted Regulation (EU) 2023/1627 – amendment 17 to Regulation (EU) 10/2011 (SafeGuardS 102/23)

If approved, the order will apply from November 19, 2025 – the same day as the Law of Ukraine of November 3, 2022 No. 2718-IX ‘On materials and articles intended to come into contact with food’ (SafeGuardS 135/22)

SGS technical experts have extensive knowledge and testing experience in materials and articles in contact with food. They work to ensure that your products meet the appropriate regulations for food contact materials, paving the way for compliance. From overall migration tests to expert advice on emerging regulations, compliance issues and documentation review, SGS is the partner to trust. Discover more on our website. In the end, it’s only trusted because it’s tested.