Council of Europe resolution on metals and alloys as food contact materials - 25/05/2011

Coffee machines are made of metal, and in particular they have some parts made of brass, so the industry has an interest in decisions that may affect the metals used in food machines.

In late April there was an open consultation on a draft Council of Europe resolution on metals and alloys as food contact materials. The resolution would set limits for the release of metals into foods including water. While the Council of Europe has no legislative powers, the standards set will still have an impact.

The current basis for the resolution is that there should be no release of any metals into any food or water. In particular the standard set for lead at present is that it should not be detectable. Brass contains a very small amount of lead (about 1%) so that it can be machined and under some circumstances very small amounts of this lead can get into the coffee. The current limit for lead in drinking water is 25 parts per billion (milligrams per tonne) and this will be reduced to 10ppb in 2013. This draft resolution could possibly give the coffee industry a genuine problem as current limits of detection are way below 10ppb in water and will continue to reduce as analytical techniques improve in time.

The resolution has to be signed by foreign ministers of all the 47 member states of the Council of Europe. This gives the Beverage Standards Association and its members’ opportunity and Mike Saltmarsh (working on behalf of the AVA; EVA and BSA) intends to talk to the Food Standards Agency to see if there is a route through the national food agencies to put pressure on the committee to set more reasonable standards.

Should you as a BSA member wish to discuss this matter further, or make a representation on behalf of your Company and the BSA please contact Mike Saltmarsh at Inglehurst Foods by email at mike@inglehurst.co.uk.

The BSA Technical Bulletin can be downloaded by clicking here.

Article added: Tuesday, 24th May 2011