Food-contact testing asks one question: does anything migrate out of this material into the food or drink it touches, in quantities that matter. It is not a durability test and not a performance test, and it is measured on the finished article rather than on the raw steel — which is why a coating or an ink can change the answer.
What is actually measured
Testing applies a simulant and conditions intended to represent the real use — a drink, a temperature, a contact time — and then measures what has moved from the surface into the simulant. The pass or fail is against a limit set by the market's regulation, not against a universal number, which is why the same item can pass in one market and need a different test for another.
Which surface is the food-contact surface
| Surface | Contact | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Interior body | Direct, extended | The primary food-contact surface |
| Lid and spout | Direct, extended | Often a different material — plastic, silicone, bamboo |
| Gaskets and seals | Direct, extended | Silicone or rubber, with its own declaration |
| Exterior coating | Incidental | Still relevant, because hands and mouths meet it |
| Printed decoration | Incidental | Inks are covered by their own rules in several markets |
Why the configuration has to be named
A declaration for a bare 304 body does not cover the same body with a powder coat, a heat-transfer wrap and a bamboo lid. Each of those introduces a material into the contact path. When a supplier offers one report “for the range”, the honest question is which configuration it was measured on — and whether your configuration is that one.
Questions buyers ask
How often does a test have to be renewed?
It is tied to the report's own validity and to whether anything in the configuration changed. A change of coating supplier is a change of material even if the shade looks identical.
Can I sell on the supplier's report?
Frequently yes, with the report made out to cover the item and the market. Your own retailer may require it to be in your name or topped up with their own tests, and that is worth checking early.
Does a food-contact report cover transit durability?
No. They answer different questions, and a retail chain that asks for both is asking for two different documents.
Documents are provided per product and per destination market; the certification matrix groups them by the market each one answers to.
