Working Party on Materials and Articles in contact with Food or Drink: Annual Review of Current Research Projects 2003

Monday 3 November 2003

Read the review of the research conducted by the Working Party on Materials from Food Contact Materials and Articles in contact with Food or Drink in 2003.

This Food Standards Agency programme of research provides information and practical methods to help the Agency to meet its consumer safety objectives. For example, it helps to build a sound scientific basis for UK input to international negotiations in the European Union. A wide range of experimental work is involved, from fundamental research on factors that influence chemical migration to applied work on developing test protocols. Indeed, an extensive range of materials is researched, for example biodegradable packaging, elastomers and secondary packaging.

Projects on these many aspects of chemical migration into food are managed carefully to ensure value for money in both the science that they produce and their relevance to the work of the Agency.

Independent advice on this research is provided by the Working Party on Materials and Articles in Contact with Food or Drink. This committee, formerly known as the Working Party on Chemical Contaminants from Food Contact Materials and Articles, has the following terms of reference: 'To advise the Food Standards Agency on cost-effective research on materials and articles in contact with food. This research is necessary to ensure that UK consumers are effectively protected from chemical migration from such materials and articles into food.'

To ensure that work in this research programme relates to current industrial practice, the membership of the Working Party includes experts from industry as well as consumer and regulatory interests. The activities of the Working Party are structured around two meetings a year, in spring and autumn. The spring meeting reviews research projects in progress, while the one in the autumn considers future research.

This review document provides a full record of the spring 2003 meeting. It has been produced as part of the Agency's policy of openness, to disseminate information about this research programme to stakeholders.