Metal packaging

 

National legislation

Regulation on Health Suitability of Materials and Articles Intended to Come into Direct Contact with Food
Official Gazette, No. 125/2009 and 31/2011 
 

Act on General Use Good (see Article 49, point 2.)
Official Gazette, No. 39/2013, 47/2014, 114/2018 and 53/2022

 

Competent authority

 

Scope of application

Metal tubes, foils and aluminium and aluminium alloy sheets, and other types of metal packaging in contact with food

 

Main requirements that the business user needs to know about

Article 88

For production of cans, electrolytic tinplate, 99.5% pure aluminium sheets, aluminium alloys, chromed steel sheets and stainless steels intended for food packaging may be used.

Sheet metal from paragraph 1 of this article require additional organic protection, unless prescribed otherwise by this Regulation.

Nickel coated sheet metal must not be used in contact with food.

Material from paragraph 1 of this article must not contain more than 0.02% of lead, 0.02% of arsenic, 0.20% of copper and 0.20% of zinc.

Tin used in making tinplate must be 99.85% pure and must not contain more than 0.02% of lead or cadmium - individually or in total - or more than 0.01% of arsenic.

Tinplate used for making cans for placing on the market of fruit, vegetables, meat or other food, even if it has homogenous tin coating, must be varnished or otherwise protected against aggressive ingredients.

By way of derogation from the provision of paragraph 6 of this article, the packaging for moderately corrosive fruit (peach, pear, pineapple, grapefruit and other yellow fruit) and vegetables (asparagus and bamboo) made from tinplate, does not require varnish for protection.

Longitudinal seam of the cans, made by welding the edges of the can body must be processed (treated) so that in contact with the food it does not release metal and metalloids in amount greater than what is allowed for that type of food.

Tin content in the product must not exceed the amount allowed for that type of food.

If it is necessary to determine specific migration of metal, a model solution consisting of 4% acetic acid and 2% sodium chloride is used.

Article 89

Inner and outer surfaces of the can must be clean and smooth, with uniform and continuous tin coating i.e. protective varnish and they must be free of scratches, gouges, bubbles, indentations or any other damage on the coating.

Soldering alloy used in manufacturing cans for contact with food must be lead-free.

Article 90

Glues used for gluing labels, sticker and tapes on the cans must not contain corrosive substances.

Glues of self-adhesive tapes which come into contact with food and glues used in producing laminates must meet the following requirements:

1. They must not contain substances which could contaminate the food by penetrating the foil;
2. They must not moisten;
3. They must be resistant to chemicals and heat;
4. They must not loose their adhesive properties during storage.

 

Market Surveillance Authority

State Inspectorate

pisarnica.dirh@dirh.hr

 

Link to the TRIS database

In the TRIS database you can look up the notification of the technical rule