Lambré Claude, Barat Baviera José Manuel, Bolognesi Claudia, Chesson Andrew, Cocconcelli Pier Sandro, Crebelli Riccardo, Gott David Michael, Grob Konrad, Mengelers Marcel, Mortensen Alicja, Rivière Gilles, Steffensen Inger-Lise, Tlustos Christina, Van Loveren Henk, Vernis Laurence, Zorn Holger, Dudler Vincent, Milana Maria Rosaria, Papaspyrides Constantine, Tavares Poças Maria de Fátima, Lioupis Alexandros, Lampi Evgenia
EFSA J. 2022 Jul 6;20(7):e07386. doi: 10.2903/j.efsa.2022.7386. eCollection 2022 Jul.
The EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes and Processing Aids (CEP) assessed the safety of the recycling process Ganesha Ecosphere (EU register number RECYC248), which uses the Starlinger iV+ technology. The input is hot caustic washed and dried poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) flakes mainly originating from collected post-consumer PET containers, with no more than 5% PET from non-food consumer applications. The flakes are dried and crystallised in a first reactor, then extruded into pellets. These pellets are crystallised, preheated and treated in a solid-state polycondensation (SSP) reactor. Having examined the challenge test provided, the Panel concluded that the drying and crystallisation (step 2), extrusion and crystallisation (step 3) and SSP (step 4) are critical in determining the decontamination efficiency of the process. The operating parameters to control the performance of these critical steps are temperature, air flow and residence time for the drying and crystallisation step, and temperature, pressure and residence time for the extrusion and crystallisation step as well as the SSP step. It was demonstrated that this recycling process is able to ensure that the level of migration of potential unknown contaminants into food is below the conservatively modelled migration of 0.1 μg/kg food. Therefore, the Panel concluded that the recycled PET obtained from this process is not of safety concern when used at up to 100% for the manufacture of materials and articles for contact with all types of foodstuffs for long-term storage at room temperature, with or without hotfill. The final articles made of this recycled PET are not intended to be used in microwave and conventional ovens and such uses are not covered by this evaluation.
欧洲食品安全局食品接触材料、酶和加工助剂专家委员会（CEP）评估了采用史太林格iV+技术的Ganesha Ecosphere回收工艺（欧盟登记号RECYC248）的安全性。其输入物是经过热碱洗和干燥的聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯（PET）薄片，主要来源于收集的消费后PET容器，非食品消费应用的PET含量不超过5%。这些薄片在第一个反应器中干燥并结晶，然后挤出成颗粒。这些颗粒在固态缩聚（SSP）反应器中进行结晶、预热和处理。在审查了所提供的挑战性试验后，专家委员会得出结论，干燥和结晶（步骤2）、挤出和结晶（步骤3）以及SSP（步骤4）对确定该工艺的去污效率至关重要。控制这些关键步骤性能的操作参数包括干燥和结晶步骤的温度、气流和停留时间，以及挤出和结晶步骤以及SSP步骤的温度、压力和停留时间。结果表明，这种回收工艺能够确保潜在未知污染物向食品中的迁移水平低于保守模拟的0.1μg/kg食品的迁移量。因此，专家委员会得出结论，当该工艺获得的再生PET以高达100%的比例用于制造与所有类型食品在室温下长期储存（无论是否热灌装）接触的材料和制品时，不存在安全问题。由这种再生PET制成的最终制品不打算用于微波炉和传统烤箱，本评估不涵盖此类用途。
