Container compliance checklist by market

Why compliance is a file, not a badge

Buyers often ask whether a container is certified. For food contact packaging that question has no single answer, because no market issues one certificate that covers a finished container everywhere. What exists instead is a set of rules for materials in contact with food, a set of tests that show a finished item meets them, and a set of rules about what can be said on a label or listing. The work is to match each part of the product, base, lid, insert, window and carton, to the rules of the market it is sold in, and to hold the evidence in one program file.

Lidwell keeps that file per program. Declarations and test reports are issued to the partner plant or to your brand per project, never to the desk, and the desk verifies that the document names the right material, the right item and the right conditions of use. The checklist below is the working version of that file. It is a sourcing tool, not legal advice: confirm the final position with your test lab, customs broker or counsel.

Step one: name the material of every part

Every rule that follows depends on the material. A typical takeout box is a PP base with a PP lid; a cold fruit box may be clear PET; a bakery box is kraft or white card with a PET or PVC window; a starch-based bowl is, in the partner plant literature, corn starch filed under PP thermoforming, so the desk treats it as a starch and PP blend. Write the material of each part on the specification before asking for documents, and note whether the part touches food, whether it is heated and whether it is reused. A window on a paper box that never touches hot food sits in a different place from a lid that goes into a microwave.

The resin identification code on the part, PET 1, HDPE 2, PVC 3, LDPE 4, PP 5, PS 6 and other 7, is a quick cross-check against the declaration. If a lid is marked 5 and the declaration covers PET, the file is wrong.

The checklist by market

United States

FDA regulates food contact substances under 21 CFR 174-178. For PP and PE the relevant section is 21 CFR 177.1520 for olefin polymers, which sets specifications such as hexane extractables. The supplier declaration should state the regulation, the resin and the conditions of use, using the A-H conditions in 21 CFR 176.170(c) Table 1, so that a box declared only for room temperature use is not sold for hot fill. FDA does not approve finished containers; the correct wording is compliant with 21 CFR per supplier declaration or per test report. Any paper box, molded fibre tray or bagasse bowl in the program also needs a statement on intentionally added PFAS, because at least 13 states restrict PFAS in food packaging in some form.

European Union

Regulation (EC) 1935/2004 is the framework for all food contact materials. Plastics fall under Regulation (EU) 10/2011, which sets an overall migration limit of 10 mg/dm2, or 60 mg/kg of food simulant, plus specific migration limits for listed substances. The resin producer's declaration of compliance covers an intermediate material only; the finished container still needs its own declaration from the converting plant, supported by migration testing on the item. Germany adds LFGB 30 and 31 test reports and BfR recommendations in many buyer requirements. Note that a test report is evidence for one item under stated conditions; it is not a certificate, and LFGB is a test basis, not a certification mark.

The Single-Use Plastics Directive 2019/904 is separate from food contact law. It has banned single-use plastic cutlery, plates, straws and expanded polystyrene food containers and cups from the EU market since 3 July 2021, and PLA counts as plastic. EU cutlery kits therefore go the wooden route.

China

For goods sold in China, or for buyers who ask exporters to show domestic compliance, GB 4806.1 sets the general rules, GB 4806.6 covers resins, GB 4806.7-2023 covers plastic materials and articles, and GB 4806.8 covers paper and board. GB/T 41010 governs marking for degradable plastics. Many partner plants already hold GB 4806 reports for stock items, which is a useful starting point but not a substitute for the destination market file.

Claims: the part most often missed

A container can meet every food contact rule and still be sold with a claim that breaks advertising rules. In the US, the FTC Green Guides at 16 CFR 260.8 treat an unqualified degradable claim as deceptive unless the item fully breaks down within a reasonably short time after customary disposal, and items that go to landfill do not meet that test. Compostable claims need a certification to EN 13432 or ASTM D6400, with the certificate number, and must be qualified where composting facilities are not available to most consumers under 260.7. The desk also screens absolute wording about leaks or blanket microwave statements for the whole range and replaces it with what was tested: leak-resistant in a standard tilt test, confirmed per order; microwave use per supplier marking, lid removed where marked.

The working checklist

1. List every part, its material, resin code, food contact and heat use.
2. Name the destination markets, including any EU country or US state with its own rules.
3. Request declarations from the partner plant for each plastic part, naming the item and conditions of use.
4. Agree migration tests at a third-party lab where the market or the buyer requires them.
5. Collect PFAS statements for paper and fibre parts sold in the US.
6. Check every claim on lids, sleeves, cartons and listings against the evidence.
7. File the documents with the lot number so each repeat order can be traced.

Testing time sits inside the sampling stage, so it affects the schedule; typical sample and batch lead times are on MOQ and lead time. The food contact compliance guide and compliance and certifications pages explain each document, and testing and inspection covers the checks done on each lot. When the parts and markets are listed, send them through the quote form and the desk will return the document plan with the matched models.