Check a plastic food-contact declaration
Match the declaration to your exact article, then compare its substance restrictions, permitted foods and contact conditions with your intended use. Check that the supporting migration evidence covers those conditions and explains any gaps. Factory document collection can be coordinated by Cambridge China Bridge.
Identify the article and the declaration
For plastic food-contact articles, confirm with the relevant food safety authority whether a written declaration of compliance is required before the retail stage and which GB rules it must address. Our kitchenware import guide covers the separate China-specific control; here, the task is to decide whether the declaration supports your intended use.
Ask for a dated declaration identifying the issuing business, manufacturer and article. Match its product reference, resin, colour, food-contact layers and component details to your order. Ask the supplier to explain any broad product-family description and identify which report supports each covered variant.
Make substance restrictions usable
Ask the supplier to identify substances with restrictions or specifications and explain how compliance is demonstrated. Request substance identifiers, applicable specific migration or group limits, any composition restrictions and the evidence reference. A statement that the resin is food grade does not tell you which restrictions were assessed.
Also ask whether any substances have restrictions in food, and request the relevant migration information and purity criteria where applicable. If the formulation is confidential, ask the supplier to arrange confidential disclosure to your laboratory and provide a review that lets you assess the article without receiving the full recipe.
Compare permitted use with your specification
Write down the foods the article will touch, including fatty, acidic, aqueous or dry foods as relevant. Describe filling, heating, cooling and storage, with contact duration and temperature at each stage. Include repeated use where intended. Put this in your product specification before asking the laboratory to review coverage.
Compare that brief with the declaration’s permitted food types, contact time and temperature, and the food-contact surface area to food volume used in the assessment. Ask the laboratory to explain whether the tested conditions cover your use. Evidence for chilled storage alone should not be accepted as support for a hot-filling claim.
Read the migration evidence behind the claim
The plastics rules say supporting documentation must contain testing conditions and results, calculations including modelling, other analysis, and safety evidence or reasoning demonstrating compliance. Ask for the evidence package or a laboratory review of it. A declaration and a report marked pass are not enough for a practical review if their scope is unclear.
Check sample identity, tested food or food simulants, contact duration and temperature, surface area to volume assumptions, results and the limits used. Ask which evidence addresses overall migration and which addresses restricted substances. For calculations or modelling, request the assumptions and an explanation of how they support the declared use. Our test-report verification guide explains authenticity checks.
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Resolve gaps before approving the order
Make a short gap list: unidentified article, unexplained substance restriction, missing food category, unsuitable contact conditions or unsupported variant. Ask for a corrected declaration, a technical explanation or additional testing as appropriate. Keep purchasing approval pending until the evidence supports the use you will specify and advertise.
Keep the declaration, supporting evidence references, approved specification and supplier correspondence together. Ask the factory to notify you before changing the resin, colourant, additives, layers or process so you can review the evidence again. Cambridge China Bridge’s staff in China can coordinate document collection and sample identification; the buyer approves the intended use and evidence.
Frequently asked questions
Is a food-grade statement enough for plastic kitchenware?
Ask for the article-specific declaration and supporting evidence. A food-grade statement alone does not identify assessed substances, permitted foods or contact conditions.
Can a cold-food test support hot food use?
Ask the laboratory to compare the test conditions with your hot-food use. Keep approval pending if the evidence does not explain coverage of the intended contact time and temperature.
Must every compliance claim rely on a migration test?
Supporting documentation can include calculations, modelling, other analysis and safety reasoning. Ask for the assumptions and an explanation of how the evidence supports the declared use.
What if the factory will not disclose its formulation?
Ask for confidential disclosure to your laboratory and a review identifying applicable restrictions, evidence and permitted use. Do not approve an unexplained compliance claim.