Compliance Starts With the Sheet, Not the Machine

When a converter buys a thermoforming or cup making machine, the equipment determines whether a container can be made to specification. It does not determine whether the container is legal to sell. That depends on the plastic sheet, the additives in it, and the evidence trail behind both.

This distinction matters for exporters, because a machine that forms a perfect cup from non-compliant sheet still produces a non-compliant cup.

The Main Regimes in Practice

• European Union — Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 sets the general safety requirement; Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 governs plastics, with positive lists of monomers and additives and specific migration limits. Converters need a Declaration of Compliance from the sheet supplier and, where required, migration test data.
• United States — Food contact substances must comply with FDA regulations, typically through prior-sanctioned materials or effective food-contact notifications held by the resin or sheet producer.
• China — GB 4806 series sets requirements for food-contact plastic materials and articles, including migration limits and labelling.
• Gulf and Southeast Asia — national standards that frequently reference EU or FDA test methods, plus halal-related handling expectations in some markets.

What the Converter Must Keep on File

1. Resin and sheet grade identification, with the supplier's food-contact declaration
2. Additive and colourant disclosure, since masterbatch can be the weak link
3. Migration test reports for the finished article where the market requires them
4. Traceability records linking sheet lot to finished production lot
5. Process records showing the material was not degraded — excessive heat history can create new migrants

Why Machine Choice Affects the Evidence

Temperature control is a compliance issue, not only a quality issue. A machine with zone-by-zone heating and stable dwell times produces containers with predictable, repeatable heat history, which is what makes a migration result reproducible. Longsheng builds sheet extruders, cup making machines and multi-station thermoforming machines as a matched set, with the LSI series PET/PLA extruder including a drying and crystallising system — relevant because moisture-driven hydrolysis in PET and PLA is both a quality and a compliance risk.

Company Facts

Shantou Longsheng Industry Co., Ltd. was founded in 1998 in Shantou City, Guangdong Province, operates a 30,000 square metre facility, holds 25 authorised patents (1 invention, 24 utility model) and is a high-tech enterprise with the registered "Longsheng" trademark.

For export packaging projects, visit the official website: https://www.stlongsheng.com