The market for plastics in contact with food continues to grow. Packaged food is seen as an indispensable part of daily life in the economies of North America, Europe and parts of South East Asia. Lifestyle dictates that food needs to stay fresh for as long as possible and packaging plays a key role in ensuring that food wastage is kept to a minimum. Recent developments in the area of active and intelligent packaging show that the packaging can play an active role in giving information on the freshness or otherwise of the package contents.
The subject of plastics in contact with food extends beyond the packaging market. EU regulations refer to any polymer system that can be reasonably expected to come into contact with food. This extends the scope to the areas of conveyor belting used in food processing plants and plastics used in food storage areas where contact with food can take place.
In an area that is developing rapidly one would expect to see regulations developing at a similarly rapid pace and this is true of the situation in the European Union.