EU Regulation 1935/2004 lists 17 material categories that could contact your food. Specific safety limits exist for four. Your metal pan, wooden spoon, silicone spatula, and \"ceramic\" coating are in the other thirteen — governed by a general safety requirement with no specific limits, no standardised tests, and no mandatory compliance declarations.

In this episode, we debate: Is the EU food contact materials framework a reasonable, proportionate approach — or does the 22-year gap between listing materials and governing them create the feeling of coverage where the substance of coverage is absent?

We unpack 6 concepts: the 4-of-17 gap, Article 3 vs Article 5, the Council of Europe non-binding guidance (stainless steel exceeds its own nickel guideline 5x), the sol-gel classification void, the Enumeration Presumption, and California AB 1200.

This is Part 2 of The Kitchen Problem — a 3-part series. Part 1 (The Pan) covered what your cookware actually transfers into food. Part 3 (The Season) asks how we lost the knowledge to choose differently.

Topics: food contact materials, EU food regulation, cookware regulation, stainless steel safety, kitchen chemical safety, FCM

Read the full report: youreanatural.com/consumer-intelligence/the-contact