On March 12, 2018, the final meeting of DIN SPEC 5010 "Testing of paper and board — Determination of the transfer of mineral oil hydrocarbons from food contact materials manufactured with portions of recycled pulp" took place in Berlin.

Mineral oil hydrocarbons came into focus in connection with food packaging after it was determined in 2009 that they occur in packaging made from recycled paper board or paper and can migrate into food. Printing ink containing mineral oil, used particularly in newspaper printing, was identified as the main source of the mineral oil hydrocarbons in recycled paper board and paper. With DIN SPEC 5010 a standardised measuring method is made available for evaluating the functional barrier quality. In the individual case of application, it allows for conclusions about estimates of the migration of mineral oil hydrocarbons from fibre-based paper and board equipped with a barrier.

The manufacturers of fibre-based paper and board with barrier function know the individual processing conditions for their materials and recommend them to their customers. These specifications enable the converter to perform an individual case risk evaluation of migration from the finished food contact material for the unprocessed material on the basis of the determined values.

The project was initiated by Verband Deutscher Papierfabriken e. V. (VDP). A total of 14 project partners from industry, research, associations and testing institutes took part in the workshop on DIN SPEC 5010. All project partners have spoken out in favor of the publication of DIN SPEC 5010. The possibility of continuing the project at European level will be discussed.

The DIN SPEC 5010 is expected to be available free of charge at the end of April 2018 as a PDF version at the Beuth WebShop.