SGS: New European Standard for Color Fastness in Food Contact Paper and Board Donnerstag, 14. März 2019 - 12:42
CEN has published EN 646:2018 for the determination of color fastness in food contact dyed paper and board. Conflicting national standards are to be withdrawn by May 2019 at the latest.
SAFEGUARDS | HardgoodsNO. 032/19
In November 2018, the European Committee for Standardization (Comité Européen de Normalisation, CEN) published EN 646:2018 ‘Paper and Board Intended to Come into Contact with Foodstuffs – Determination of Color Fastness of Dyed Paper and Board’.
This new standard supersedes its predecessor, EN 646:2006, and contains important changes. These include, inter alia, the following:
- Revising and extending the scope of food contact paper
- New definition for (unstained) glass fiber paper
- Replacing ‘saliva simulant’ with ‘alkaline salt solution’ for reagent
- Expanding the number of test condition procedures from two (A and B) to four (A to D)
- Evaluation only against gray scale
According to the new standard, conflicting national standards are to be withdrawn by May 2019 at the latest.
Major highlights of EN 646:2018 and a comparison with its predecessor, EN 646:2006, are summarized in Table 1.
| EN 646 ‘PAPER AND BOARD INTENDED TO COME INTO CONTACT WITH FOODSTUFFS – DETERMINATION OF COLOR FASTNESS OF DYED PAPER AND BOARD’ | ||
|---|---|---|
| VERSION | 2018 | 2006 |
| Scope |
|
|
| Reagents (Clause 6.3) | Alkaline salt solution | Saliva solution |
| Test Conditions | Procedure A - Long Duration Contacts: (23 ± 2) °C for 24 h | Procedure A - Long Duration Contacts: (23 ± 2) °C for 24 h |
| Procedure B - Medium Duration contacts: (23 ± 2) °C for 4 h | ----- | |
| Procedure C - Short Duration Contacts: (23 ± 2) °C for 10 mins | Procedure B - Short Duration Contacts: (23 ± 2) °C for 10 mins | |
| Procedure D - Hot Contacts: (120 ± 3) °C for 0.5 h in oil for fatty food (90 ± 3) °C for 0.5 h in water for moist food | ----- | |
| Unstained glass Fiber Paper | New definition includes a pH-value of 9.0 to 9.5 (ISO 6588-2) as one of the conditions | Definition includes a capillary rise of 190 nm to 210 nm in 10 mins (ISO 8787) as one of the conditions |
| Evaluation | Against gray scale only (EN 20105-A03) | Against a blank or gray scale |
| Remark |
| ----- |
| Effective date | Conflicting national standards are to be withdrawn by May 2019 | Most Current - Active |
Table 1
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