Α. Food Contact Materials
Β. Τoys
Α. Food Contact Materials
SCOPE
Materials and articles intended for contact with foodstuffs must fulfil a number of general and specific requirements so that they do not affect the quality and safety of foodstuffs and do not endanger the consumers health. The target of the control is the protection of Public Health, the promotion of Good Manufacturing Practice and the promotion of fair trade.
ACTIVITIES
The compliance control, monitoring and market surveillance programme and applied research is accomplished with the collaboration of the Health Inspectors Services of the Ministry of Health, which is the competent authority for sampling, inspection and enforcement.
Compliance Control and Monitoring include:
A1 Yearly programmed sample control for:
· Identification of type of plastics, elastomers and rubbers by FT-IR technique
· Ceramic wares for the leachability of lead and cadmium according to Directive 84/500/EC by ICP or ICP-MS
· Plastic articles (containers, bottles, kitchen utensils, bags, cling films, etc) for:
- Overall Migration by Article filling according to EN 1186-9
- Overall Migration by Total immersion according to EN 1186-3
- Overall Migration into substitute simulants for olive oil according to EN 1186-14
- Specific migration of Bisphenol A, Styrene, Formaldehyde, Melamine, PAA, Phthalates and DEHA by HPLC ,GC-MS, UV-Vis techniques
Semi quantitative screening determination of additives by GC-MS
· Metallic cans and metallic cooking wares with polymeric coating or not for:
- Overall Migration by Article filling according to EN 1186-9 and CEN 14235
- Specific Migration of Bisphenol A and BADGE (for coated articles)
· Metallic cooking wares for migration of metals by ICP or ICP-MS technique
A2. Market Surveillance
It is carried out to investigate particular cases based mainly on consumer complaints and on information from Rapid Alert System (RASFF).
A3. European Community Activities
Since 2004, the laboratory is The National Reference Laboratory (NRL) for Food Contact Materials according to the requirements of the (EU) 2017/625 on Official Controls on Food and Feed.
The laboratory participates in:
(i) The European Working Group on Food Contact Materials
(ii) Euronetwork of European Union Reference Laboratory (EURL) and National Reference Laboratories of Member States (NRLs)
Β. Toys
SCOPE
The protection of health and safety of children and infants from potential chemical hazards (ie heavy metals, phthalate esters etc) found in children’s toys and children can be exposed, and risks due to poor or unsatisfied mechanical and physical properties.
ACTIVITIES
B1. Annual Monitoring and Compliance Control Programs are carried out in collaboration with the competent authorities which are:
- The Competition and Consumers Protection Service (Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry) and
- The Department of Labour Inspection (Ministry of Labour, Welfare and Social Insurance)
Laboratory testing of toys includes:
- Chemical properties i.e. Migration of certain elements according to the European Standard EN 71-3 and the determination of phthalate esters in soft PVC toys.
- Mechanical and physical properties according to the European Standard EN 71-1
- Flammability test according to the European Standard EN 71-2.
B2. Market Surveillance
Market surveys on the toys are performed when there is a need to investigate specific problems based mainly on consumer complaints and on information from RAPEX
The scope of accreditation of the Laboratory according to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 can be found on the web page CYS-CYSAB (Accredited Bodies, Laboratories of the State General Laboratory of Cyprus).
RELEVANT CONNECTIONS
"Food Contact World" Article: "Small nation but big steps"