Food Grade Plastic

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A clear food container beside a jar of plastic pellets, with a sample strip hanging in a beaker of liquid and a small beaker of yellow oil on a lab bench.

Definition of Food Grade Plastic

Food grade plastic is a plastic material whose formulation complies with the food-contact regulations of the market where the product is sold, so that it can touch food without passing harmful substances into it above set limits. The term is a trade description and not a legal classification. In the United States, the governing rules are the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations in Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations, mainly Part 177 for polymers, which list permitted materials and additives. In the European Union, Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 covers plastic food-contact materials and sets an overall migration limit of 10 milligrams per square decimeter of contact surface, as well as specific limits for listed substances. Migration is measured by exposing the material or finished part to food simulants, such as dilute acetic acid, ethanol solutions or vegetable oil, under set conditions of time and temperature. Compliance applies to a specific grade and its additives, including colorants, and is documented in a supplier's declaration of compliance.

Why This Matters for Your Business

A supplier's statement that a resin is food grade covers only that resin, and the molded part you import can still fail if anything added during molding is not compliant. Colorant masterbatch, processing aids, mold release sprays and residue from the previous material in the press barrel are all common causes, so compliance has to be managed across the whole bill of materials and the molding process. EU rules also require makers of food-contact materials to work to GMP (good manufacturing practice) under Regulation (EC) No 2023/2006, which in practice means documented controls on raw materials, changeovers and traceability.

The commercial risk falls mainly on the brand owner, because a shipment that fails a migration test can be held or rejected at the border, and a failure found after sale can lead to a recall and delisting by retailers. Compliant colorants and documented controls add a little to part cost, and migration testing on the finished part adds cost and several weeks to the approval schedule, so plan it well before the production start date.

When you compare suppliers, ask how they control material changes and purging between jobs, and whether they hold test reports from accredited laboratories. Many Taiwan molders working for export customers commission this testing through the local branches of international laboratories such as SGS and Intertek.

Related Terms

Plastic Material Selection
You need written evidence for the specific grades used and for the finished part, since a datasheet marked food grade is not proof on its own. Ask the resin and colorant suppliers for declarations of compliance that name the regulation for your market and any conditions of use, such as a maximum temperature or food type. Then ask for a migration test report on molded parts, issued by an accredited laboratory and run under conditions that match how the product will be used. Check that the grade names, colors and supplier names in the documents match the bill of materials for your part, because documents for a different grade or color do not cover the part you are buying.
Only if the compliance documents and migration tests cover those conditions, because food-contact approval holds for the time, temperature and food type that were tested. A grade cleared for cold, dry food may exceed migration limits with hot, fatty food. Polypropylene is the usual choice for microwave and dishwasher use, but you still need test evidence at the temperatures the product will see.
Most failures come from changes the buyer never approved, such as a cheaper colorant, an alternative resin grade or regrind mixed in from another job. Poor purging can leave a non-compliant material in the barrel, and a general-purpose mold release spray or lubricant can transfer to the part surface. The usual remedies are a locked bill of materials with written change notification, a documented purge procedure at each changeover, and lubricants registered by NSF International in its H1 category for incidental food contact.