IN Brief:
- GeNi combines interlaboratory food contact testing data from participants across the PET packaging value chain.
- PETCORE Europe and KÖR aim to improve laboratory alignment and identify substances and contamination patterns earlier.
- The programme supports more consistent monitoring as recycled PET use increases in food and beverage packaging.
PETCORE Europe has launched GeNi, an industry initiative intended to combine food contact testing data across the PET value chain and reduce the fragmentation created when laboratories, recyclers, converters and brand owners work with separate datasets.
The programme has been developed with testing and data specialist KÖR and is designed as a shared interlaboratory platform rather than a database belonging to an individual company. Participants are expected to include laboratories, recyclers, technical specialists and brand owners, with PETCORE coordinating industry involvement and KÖR supporting data collection, anonymisation and analysis.
GeNi focuses on substances found in PET packaging, including non-intentionally added substances and contaminants that can appear through raw materials, processing, use, recycling or degradation. These compounds have been monitored across the PET sector for years, but differences in analytical methods, reporting formats and detection thresholds can make comparison difficult.
PETCORE’s existing technical work on non-intentionally added substances has concentrated on aligning approaches to identification and measurement. The association says the objective is to identify, quantify, assess and ultimately reduce substances that could present a concern for human health while helping recyclers meet regulatory monitoring obligations.
GeNi extends that work by pooling evidence from multiple participants. A laboratory result can confirm the position of an individual batch or sample, while a larger set of comparable results can make recurring substances and contamination patterns easier to recognise. The usefulness of the platform will depend on laboratories producing data that can be compared and on commercially sensitive information being separated from the wider technical picture.
KÖR and PETCORE have also been working on laboratory alignment linked to European requirements for recycled plastics intended for food contact. Existing work includes proficiency testing and standardised data formats designed to improve consistency between laboratories.
That consistency becomes more important as recycled PET returns to higher-value food and beverage packaging applications. European recycling capacity directed towards food contact uses has previously been estimated at around 1.4 million tonnes, creating a substantial volume of material for which safety evidence has to remain credible across repeated collection, sorting and reprocessing cycles.
Recycled PET introduces a different control problem from virgin polymer production. Collected material can carry contaminants from previous use, sorting errors, consumer handling, labels, adhesives or other materials in the recycling stream. Heat and processing can also create degradation products that need to be identified and assessed.
European rules already place detailed requirements on recycled plastic intended to come into contact with food. Regulation EU 2022/1616 established a framework covering suitable recycling technologies, decontamination processes, monitoring and the placing of recycled plastic materials and articles on the market. Testing data therefore sits alongside process control and traceability rather than replacing them.
A shared evidence base can make packaging qualification more consistent where recycled PET is being considered for direct food contact. Technical teams can compare whether a substance appears only in one material stream or across several sources, while more closely aligned methods should make supplier results easier to interpret.
The same principle applies during packaging development. Increasing recycled content can change the range of substances that need to be investigated, particularly where material is intended for direct food contact or used behind a functional barrier. Common testing approaches can reduce duplicated analytical work where several businesses are independently investigating the same compound.
GeNi does not transfer legal responsibility away from packaging suppliers or food companies. Each business remains responsible for the materials it places on the market and for the safety of packaging used with its products. The platform instead aims to strengthen the underlying evidence used during those assessments.
Its value will also depend on scale. A narrow dataset could identify isolated laboratory findings without establishing whether they are representative, while broader participation could provide enough evidence to distinguish recurring industry patterns from site-specific or batch-specific issues.
The initiative also creates a route for earlier technical discussion when new substances are detected. If several laboratories begin reporting the same compound, the sector can investigate its origin, assess whether it is linked to collection or processing conditions and decide whether further risk assessment or process changes are needed.
That could become increasingly useful as packaging producers seek higher recycled content while food businesses face tighter scrutiny of food contact materials. More circular material flows increase the need to understand what moves with the polymer from one use cycle to the next.
PETCORE and KÖR are concentrating on the less visible part of recycled packaging development: the quality and comparability of the data behind compliance decisions. If participation is broad enough, GeNi should provide a stronger technical basis for identifying emerging substances, tracing likely origins and deciding where intervention is required across the PET value chain.
