Q: What are FDA requirements for Food-Contact Articles?


 A: Anyone manufacturing food-contact articles for use in the home or in food service establishments should make sure that nothing from the articles imparts flavor, color, odor, toxicity, or other undesirable characteristics to food, thereby rendering the food adulterated.

While food packaging materials are subject to regulation as "food additives," FDA has generally not enforced the food additive provisions on ordinary housewares. Such housewares include dishes, flatware, beverage glasses, mugs, cooking utensils, cutlery, and electrical appliances. This means that manufacturers have not been required to submit data to the FDA showing that the materials used are safe. They also are not required to pre-clear their housewares with FDA. But housewares are not exempt from the general safety provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Regulatory actions have been taken against cookware and ceramic dinnerware containing leachable lead or cadmium.


-Access the Code of Federal Regulations for the provisions mentioned above.
-For additional information see Information Materials for the Food and Cosmetics Industries.

 

Source: Excerpted from Requirements of Laws and Regulations Enforced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (1997).

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