A German importer books a container of bamboo-fibre coffee cups from Fujian. The factory sends a PDF headed “Food Grade Certificate”, with a red stamp and a lab logo. The container lands in Hamburg and the food control authority holds it. Six weeks later, the goods go back at the importer’s cost. The certificate was an old test on a different item, and the cups themselves, bamboo powder in melamine resin, are not legal in the EU, whatever a test says. Food contact is an area where the document your supplier sends and the document an inspector wants are rarely the same thing. Here is what the rules require, and how to tell a usable test report from decoration.
What does the glass and fork symbol actually mean?
It comes from Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004, the umbrella law for food contact materials in the EU. Article 15 says materials not yet in contact with food must carry the words “for food contact”, a specific indication of use such as “coffee machine”, or the symbol in Annex II. The three are alternatives, and the indication can be dropped for articles obviously meant for food, like a table knife.
So it is a labelling mark, not a certificate. Nobody issues it and nobody audits it. A factory printing it on a carton is saying what the goods are for, not that anything was tested.
Which EU rules apply to your product?
- Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004: materials must not transfer constituents into food in quantities that endanger health, change the food’s composition, or spoil its taste and smell.
- Regulation (EC) No 2023/2006 on good manufacturing practice: the factory needs a documented quality assurance and quality control system, and you have to be able to show it was met.
- Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 for plastics: it runs off a Union list of authorised monomers and additives. If a substance is not on that list for that use, the material is non-compliant. It sets specific migration limits per substance and an overall migration limit of 10 mg per dm², or 60 mg per kg of food.
Only plastics, ceramics, regenerated cellulose film and active and intelligent materials are fully harmonised at EU level. Paper, coatings, inks, rubber and metal fall back on national rules, so buyers in different member states can ask for different paperwork on one paper cup. None of it is the same as REACH.
What documents should your Chinese supplier provide?
For plastics, the core document is the Declaration of Compliance under Article 15 and Annex IV of Regulation 10/2011. A usable DoC names the operator issuing it, identifies the exact articles, gives the date, lists substances subject to restrictions, and states the conditions of use: food types, contact time, temperature, surface-to-volume ratio.
Behind it sits the supporting documentation, which means the migration test report. The DoC is the statement, the report is the evidence, and both must describe the same product. What suppliers send instead: a one-page “food grade certificate”, an old report on a different item number, an “FDA certificate” that does not exist as a category, or an LFGB report on the wrong material.
Regulation (EU) 2025/351 amended the plastics rules in 2025, adding a purity requirement and changing what a DoC must say, and materials made with substances that no longer qualify could only be placed on the market up to 16 September 2026. Ask your supplier for a DoC that names 2025/351.
A stamped "food grade certificate" carries no legal weight in the EU or the US, and it is the importer, not the factory, who answers for the file.
Special FCM rules in the EU
Why are melamine and polyamide kitchenware from China treated separately?
Regulation (EU) No 284/2011 sets extra import conditions for polyamide and melamine plastic kitchenware originating in or consigned from China and Hong Kong. “Consigned from” matters: routing goods through a third country does not put them out of scope.
For each such consignment, the importer submits a declaration on the model in the annex, with a laboratory report attached. For polyamide, the report must show primary aromatic amines are not released at the 0.01 mg/kg detection limit. For melamine, it must show formaldehyde release within the plastics regulation limit, 15 mg/kg for the formaldehyde group. Melamine itself has a specific migration limit of 2.5 mg/kg. The importer also notifies the authority at the designated first point of introduction two working days before arrival. Documentary checks run on every consignment, plus physical checks with laboratory analysis on 10%.
Why do bamboo-fibre cups keep getting rejected?
Because bamboo is not on the Union list. The authorisation for wood flour and fibres in Regulation 10/2011 covers untreated wood from trees and shrubs. Bamboo is a grass, and the Commission’s position is that it falls outside that entry and has not been authorised separately. A melamine cup with bamboo powder in it is a plastic article containing an unauthorised additive. It fails on composition, before anyone looks at a test result.
Enforcement work found dozens of RASFF notifications for formaldehyde migration, some over the limit by more than a factor of ten, because the plant filler changes how the resin behaves. A coordinated EU control action targeted online sellers. The same reasoning applies to rice husk and wheat straw fillers.
Before ordering eco-styled goods, read our guide to importing disposable tableware from China and check the product against the Single-Use Plastics Directive.
What do US importers need instead?
There is no US symbol and no FDA certificate for a finished cup. Under 21 CFR, a food contact substance has to be cleared by one of a few routes: listed in the indirect additive regulations, prior sanctioned, generally recognised as safe, covered by a threshold of regulation exemption, or covered by an effective Food Contact Notification (FCN).
The notification route is the one suppliers misuse most. FDA states that an effective FCN applies only to the substance in that notification, and only to the manufacturer or supplier named in it. A factory quoting somebody else’s FCN number is not showing you a clearance. Hold a statement identifying each food contact component, the 21 CFR citation or FCN covering it, and extraction data run under the conditions in that regulation. Our guide to FDA rules for imports from China covers the mechanics.
California Proposition 65 is a practical extra. Lead and cadmium in ceramic glazes and in decoration on the outer rim of glassware are the usual triggers. If exposure goes above the safe harbour level with no warning on the product, a private plaintiff can serve a 60-day notice, and settling costs money.
How do you read a migration test report?
- Does the sample match your product? Item number, colour, material, supplier name. A different colourant means a different report.
- Is the laboratory named and accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 with food contact migration inside its scope? Ask for the certificate and read the scope annex. Check the report date and which version of the regulation it cites.
- Which simulants? A is 10% ethanol for aqueous foods, B is 3% acetic acid below pH 4.5, C is 20% ethanol, D1 is 50% ethanol for emulsions and stronger alcohol, D2 is vegetable oil for fatty foods, E is Tenax for dry foods. A cup tested only in simulant A tells you little about coffee with milk.
- What time and temperature? Standard conditions run from 10 days at 20°C up to 2 hours at 175°C, and must be at least as severe as your real use, including dishwasher and microwave if you advertise them.
- Are overall and specific migration both covered, with numbers against the limit rather than a bare “pass”? For repeat-use articles, the third successive extraction is the result that counts.
Our notes on CE marking and test reports cover the forgery patterns that show up in food contact files too: cloned letterheads, edited dates, report numbers absent from the issuing lab’s database. Most labs let you verify a number online, so definitely check it.
What happens at the border when the paperwork is thin?
The container is held, not waved through with a warning. You pay demurrage and storage while the authority decides, and you pay for the analysis if it samples. If the goods fail, the options are re-export or destruction at your cost, plus a RASFF notification that makes your next shipments more likely to be pulled. For melamine and polyamide kitchenware, the declaration and lab report are a condition of entry, so a missing report is a refusal. Check your file against the documents required when importing from China before the goods ship.
The cheap version of this happens during production: confirm the material and additives, get a DoC and an accredited test report tied to your item numbers, and have someone look at the goods before they ship. For help with that last part, see our page on quality control in China.
Frequently asked questions about food contact materials from China
What does the glass and fork symbol mean?
The glass and fork symbol means a material is declared as intended for contact with food. It comes from Annex II of Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004, and Article 15 allows it as an alternative to the wording for food contact or a specific indication of use, such as a coffee machine. Nobody issues or audits the symbol, so it should be backed with appicable documents.
Is a food grade certificate from a Chinese factory valid?
A food grade certificate from a Chinese factory has no legal status in the EU or the US. EU importers of plastic articles need a Declaration of Compliance under Article 15 and Annex IV of Regulation (EU) No 10/2011, backed by a migration test report for the same product. US importers need the 21 CFR citation or FCN covering each component.
Are bamboo fibre cups legal in the EU?
Bamboo fibre used as a filler in plastic food contact materials is not legal in the EU. Bamboo is not on the Union list of authorised substances in Regulation (EU) No 10/2011, and the entry for wood flour and fibres covers wood from trees and shrubs, not grasses. Bamboo melamine cups sit behind dozens of RASFF formaldehyde notifications and have been withdrawn from sale.
What is a Declaration of Compliance for food contact materials?
A Declaration of Compliance is the written statement from the business operator that a food contact material meets EU law. For plastics, it is required by Article 15 of Regulation (EU) No 10/2011, with the content listed in Annex IV: identity of the articles, date, substances subject to restrictions, and the conditions of use, including food type, contact time and temperature.
Do melamine products from China need extra import documents?
Melamine and polyamide plastic kitchenware from China and Hong Kong need extra documents under Regulation (EU) No 284/2011. Each consignment requires a completed declaration on the model in the annex plus a laboratory report: formaldehyde release within 15 mg/kg for the formaldehyde group, or primary aromatic amines not released at 0.01 mg/kg for polyamide. Notify the authority two working days before arrival.