More frequent testing of packaging materials needed – the message of at the SIRHA exhibition

This year's SIRHA Budapest, the most important international food exhibition in Central and Eastern Europe, was a huge success. It was said at one of the key events of the three-day exhibition that the role of the packaging industry is of paramount importance for food safety. Co-organized by the Hungarian Association of Packaging and Materials Handling  (CSAOSZ) and the independent testing laboratory Eurofins Food and Feed Testing, the conference also addressed one of the key challenges facing the sector: the release of compounds from recycled food packaging.

Already for the sixth time, SIRHA Budapest welcomed professionals and the most important stakeholders of the region's gastronomy to the HUNGEXPO Budapest Congress and Exhibition Centre between March 5 and 7. This year, nearly 26,000 professional visitors met with more than 300 exhibitors from 16 countries on 30,000 square meters of exhibition space.

"The food industry is one of the most innovative sectors, one of the fastest to react to change and, together with agriculture, it is a strategic industry," said Minister of Agriculture István Nagy at the opening of the exhibition.

This statement is also true for the market and legislative changes in food packaging in general, and recycled materials in particular.

This became apparent at one of Sirha's most important professional events, the conference organized by the Hungarian Association of Packaging and Materials Handling (CSAOSZ) and the Budapest and Gyula laboratories of EUROFINS Food and Feed Testing.

At the conference entitled "Old and new challenges - changes in packaging material and packaging food safety and environmental regulations, professional novelties and interesting facts", experts from the professional association, manufacturers and distributors, as well as the laboratory carrying out the tests, emphasized that while customers increasingly expect cheaper and more efficient solutions, manufacturers must also meet the requirements of sustainability, which has now been declared in European Union legislation.

"Sustainable development is of primary importance for the survival of our civilization, but it also poses a challenge in many areas, including recyclable packaging materials, as the ingredients that migrate into food can be harmful to human health," said Dr Ágnes Kovács, of Eurofins Food and Feed Testing Budapest Kft.

Migration depends on many factors (e.g., the material of the packaging, its use, the time elapsed, the storage temperature, etc.), but in the case of packaging containing recycled raw materials as well, this raises a number of issues: traceability is not always ensured, residues of other packaging materials and the substances stored in them (cleaning products, cosmetics) may be introduced, and their quality may deteriorate during recycling.

The scientific portal Laboratorium.hu recently published a detailed article on this, which was also quoted by the most important economic media.

Dr. Csaba Ábrahám, Managing Director of Eurofins Food and Feed, said at the conference that the laboratory network, which carries out 450 million tests worldwide annually, has been present in Hungary since 2018, and the tasks of its Food Safety Division (Eurofins Food and Feed Testing) will be performed by two laboratories with an illustrious history: the Budapest-based Eurofins Food and Feed Testing Budapest and Eurofins Food and Feed Testing Gyula (the legal successor of Eurofins Food Analytica Kft.), starting from January 1, 2024.

For the first time, the two laboratories presented their unified services in the field of physico-chemical, microbiological and molecular biological testing of foodstuffs together, and at the booth, visitors could consult experts on analyses related to allergens, pesticides and packaging materials.