ABSTRACT
During the handling of agricultural raw materials,
during their processing and transformation into foods,
and during the transport of these products from the
producers to the consumers, contacts with other
materials frequently occur. The most common example
of such a contact is situated at the end of the food
chain: food packaging materials. Apart from a variety
of packaging materials, however, a lot of other contact
materials should be considered as well. An incomplete
list of examples may illustrate this: stainless steel
processing, transport or storage equipment, tubing for
food transport, sealing materials in piping equipment,
protection foils or lacquers used in storage facilities,
etc. Instead of classifying these materials according
to their function or use, a classification based on their
chemical characteristics is more convenient and appro-
priate. Thus, the European food legislation differ-
entiates various classes of food contact materials as
indicated in Table 1. It should be stressed that this list not only includes
packaging materials, but also all kinds of materials
which can be in contact with an agricultural raw
material or a foodstuff (2).
