Gaskets get migration waiver until May 2009

摘要

Gaskets that fail to comply with migration limits laid down in a 2007 EU regulation will be able to stay on the market until May 2009, under an amending regulation that took effect at the beginning of the month. Without the amending regulation (No 597/2008), which appeared in the EU's Official Journal at the end of last month (OJ L 164 of 25.06.2008), many gaskets, which are used to seal metal lids on glass jars, would have been banned from 1 July. Member states have already cleared the Commission regulation through the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health. Until the 2007 regulation (No 372/2007) gaskets were not covered by EU food contact materials law because they were considered to be coatings. However, concerns about migration of epoxidised soybean oil (ESBO) from gaskets into jars of baby food, followed by other studies showing the substance in high concentrations in fatty foods, led to the 2007 regulation.