Food contact compliance is not one certificate, and the phrase food grade on a quotation means almost nothing by itself. This guide explains the two regimes that matter for plastic kitchenware moulded in China: the US FDA framework and the German LFGB testing that European buyers and retailers usually demand.
The FDA is a substance regime, not a product certificate
The FDA does not certify products. It publishes a list of substances that are permitted in food contact articles, with conditions of use. A resin is compliant if it is made from listed substances used within the listed conditions, and the supplier documents this with a letter of guarantee referencing the specific FDA regulation for each substance.
What the FDA regime does not do is test your finished bowl in your customer's dishwasher at 75 degrees for ten years. That gap is why European buyers ask for migration testing on top.
LFGB is a migration regime
LFGB testing exposes the finished article to food simulants under defined conditions and measures what migrates out. For plastics the standard sequence is:
- Simulant selection. Water for aqueous foods, 3 percent acetic acid for acidic foods, 10 percent ethanol for dairy and alcohol-containing foods, and olive oil or a substitute for fatty foods. A bowl used for both soup and salad with dressing needs the acidic simulant.
- Conditions. Repeated-use articles are tested with three successive extractions at the worst realistic temperature and duration, not one short contact.
- Limits. Overall migration is capped at 10 mg per square decimetre, with a sensory test for odour and taste that catches what chemistry misses: a bowl that migrates nothing but smells of solvent still fails.
- Colour fastness. A wipe test with the simulant, because a printed rim that bleeds into hot soup is a migration event even if the pigment is listed.
What to require from a supplier
- The resin grade with its food contact clearance, not just the word food grade.
- A migration test report on the finished, decorated article from an accredited lab, listing the simulants and conditions used.
- Confirmation that colourants and any coating are also covered, since the base resin certificate does not extend to them.
- Retest commitment when the colour, mould release agent or supplier changes.
Common failure points on moulded parts
Overall migration failures usually trace back to a masterbatch rather than the base resin, and sensory failures usually trace back to insufficient drying of the resin before moulding, which leaves hydrolysis by-products in the part. Both are process problems, not material problems, and both show up only when the finished article is tested rather than the pellets.
Related reading
Our food-grade PP feeding set programme is supplied with migration reports on the decorated parts, and the household and desk goods range covers the non-food-contact variants of the same moulding platform.
