We sell bamboo-melamine tableware

Tableware sold as bamboo is often not a wooden product. When plant powder is bound with a resin such as melamine-formaldehyde, the result is a plastic in the sense of Regulation (EU) No 10/2011: a polymer to which additives or other substances may have been added, capable of functioning as the main structural component of the article (Article 3(2)). Its food contact rules then apply to the whole article.^[2]

The plastics regulation works with a positive list. Only the substances included in the Union list in Annex I may be used in the manufacture of plastic materials and articles (Article 5(1)), with derogations for some production aids, colorants and solvents under national law (Article 6(1) and (2)). A filler that is not on the list therefore cannot be used, however natural it is, unless one of those derogations applies. The Union list in the consolidated text of 14 July 2026 contains no entry for bamboo. The only plant-fibre entry, untreated wood flour and fibres (FCM No 96), was deleted by Regulation (EU) 2023/1442: the European Food Safety Authority could not confirm that wood is inert and found that the safety of plant materials must be assessed case by case (recital 3). Plastics made under the earlier rules and first placed on the market before 1 February 2025 may remain on the market until stocks run out (Article 2(1)). The framework regulation adds that the labelling, advertising and presentation of a food contact material must not mislead consumers (Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 Article 3(2)).^[2][4][1]

The resin itself has limits. The Union list sets a specific migration limit of 2.5 mg/kg food for 2,4,6-triamino-1,3,5-triazine, melamine (FCM substance 239), and group restriction 15 limits formaldehyde and the substances in its group to 15 mg/kg food, expressed as formaldehyde. The supplier's declaration of compliance must carry the information in Annex IV, including the conditions of use for which compliance was verified (Article 15 and Annex IV), with test evidence behind it (Article 16).^[2]

Imports from China and Hong Kong carry an extra layer. Commission Regulation (EU) No 284/2011 applies to polyamide and melamine plastic kitchenware originating in or consigned from those countries (Article 1). The importer submits, for each consignment, a declaration and a laboratory report showing for melamine kitchenware that formaldehyde release does not exceed 15 mg/kg food (Article 3), and notifies the first point of introduction at least two working days before arrival (Article 4). Authorities check the documents of all consignments and test 10 % of them (Article 6), and goods are released for free circulation only on presentation of the completed declaration (Article 8). The Regulation still refers to Directive 2002/72/EC, which Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 repealed; references to that Directive are read as references to Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 (its Article 21). Its EUR-Lex page shows no end of validity.^[3][2]