The U.S. FDA is putting the finishing touches on some major rule changes and the rest of the world needs to take note (read more here). Why?
Because these rules do not only affect domestic food but imports as well which must now be held to the same FDA standards. The emphasis of the new rules will be on prevention instead of reaction. Functionally, this means companies will be required to have a written, preventative food-safety plan that addresses food quality concerns.
How do these rules relate to plastics? One word: contamination.
The threat of contamination is behind the development and recent proliferation of Redco™ Blue FDA approved plastics as well as Redco™ X-Ray and Redco™ Metal Detectable UHMW-PE and acetal materials. These plastics could, and should, play a key role in preventative food safety moving forward. The plastics can be caught by detection machines if they ever break into the food and the blue plastic can be easily spotted by workers on the processing line. There is no excuse why these plastics cannot be implemented: they are FDA approved, have obvious advantages over traditional natural grades of plastic, and are available in several grades – even a FDA approved Redco™ Dryslide (extra low coefficient of friction) specialty grade! Like it or not, these new FDA rules are coming and formulating your preventative food safety plan should involve Redco™ food-safe plastics.
For answers to your questions on our line of food-safe acetals and UHMW-PE please contact us today.
