EU legislation on Food Contacts with specific materials

Active and Intelligent Materials

Active and intelligent materials extend the shelf-life by maintaining or improving the condition of packaged food, by releasing or absorbing substances to or from the food or its surrounding environment.

As a result they are exempted from the general inertness rule in Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004. The specific rules in Commission Regulation (EC) No 450/2009 apply to address their specific purpose, e.g.:

absorption of substances from food packaging interior such as liquid and oxygen
release of substances into the food such as preservatives
indicate expiry of food through labelling that changes colour when maximum shelf life or storage temperature is exceeded

Active materials do not include systems that absorb substances entering from the atmosphere, such as active oxygen barriers.

Commission Regulation (EC) No 450/2009 foresees the establishment of a Union list of substances permitted for the manufacture of active and intelligent materials.