Wooden chopsticks are made from natural wood and are one of the most traditional chopsticks with a long history. What are the testing items for wooden chopsticks and DM food contact materials in Italy?

Wooden chopsticks are classified as wooden food contact materials in the Italian DM food contact material regulations and require the following testing items:

Migration experiment: Wooden chopsticks need to simulate contact with different foods at different times, including olive oil, vinegar, beer, tea, coffee, etc. Organic solvents and water in these foods may dissolve certain components in chopsticks and then migrate into the food.

Antibacterial agent testing: Antibacterial agents are widely used in wood processing. To ensure the safety of chopsticks, antibacterial agent testing is necessary to prevent negative effects on human health.

Heavy metal detection: Wooden chopsticks may use substances containing heavy metals during the processing, such as paint, dyes, etc. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct heavy metal testing to avoid entering food during consumer use.

Other routine testing items: including size, appearance, deformation resistance, mold resistance, heat resistance, cold resistance, and other testing items.

The specific steps for the inspection process of wooden chopsticks and Italian DM food contact materials are as follows:

1. Prepare samples according to Italian regulations and standards, and label and record them.

2. Choose appropriate simulated foods, such as water, olive oil, vinegar, beer, tea, coffee, etc.

3. Place chopsticks in simulated food and conduct migration experiments at the specified temperature and time.

4. Clean and dry chopsticks to remove surface residues of simulated food.

5. Conduct antibacterial testing on chopsticks to prevent negative effects on human health.

6. Perform heavy metal testing on chopsticks to avoid entering food during consumer use.

7. Perform other routine testing items on chopsticks, such as size, appearance, deformation resistance, mold resistance, heat resistance, cold resistance, etc.

8. Comprehensively analyze the testing data to obtain a testing report.

9. If the inspection fails, the problem needs to be rectified and retested until it passes the inspection.

10. The final inspection report shall be formed and stamped with a special inspection seal.