§ 177.1340 Ethylene-methyl acrylate copolymer resins.

Ethylene-methyl acrylate copolymer resins may be safely used as articles or components of articles intended for use in contact with food, in accordance with the following prescribed conditions: (a) For the purpose of this section, the ethylene-methyl acrylate copolymer resins consist of basic copolymers produced by the copolymerization of ethylene and methyl acrylate such that the copolymers contain no more than 25 weight percent of polymer units derived from methyl acrylate. (b) The finished food-contact article, when extracted with the solvent or solvents characterizing the type of food and under the conditions of time and temperature characterizing the conditions of its intended use as determined from tables 1 and 2 of § 176.170(c) of this chapter, yields net chloroform-soluble extractives (corrected for zinc extractives as zinc oleate) in each extracting solvent not to exceed 0.5 milligram per square inch of food-contact surface when tested by the methods described in § 176.170(d) of this chapter. If the finished food-contact article is itself the subject of a regulation in parts 174, 175, 176, 177, 178 and § 179.45 of this chapter, it shall also comply with any specifications and limitations prescribed for it by that regulation. In testing the finished food-contact article, use a separate test sample for each required extracting solvent. (c) The provisions of this section are not applicable to ethylene-methyl acrylate copolymer resins used in food-packaging adhesives complying with § 175.105 of this chapter.