Chesapeake has recently increased the number of factories that have declared compliance with the ECMA GMP standard to 10 operations. Chesapeake sites supplying the food sector in Germany declared compliance 2-years ago and this has now been extended to all other sites supplying food packaging in the UK and Poland. This also includes factories at Hamilton and Hillington in Scotland that produce paperwraps and tubes which are the first product manufacturers of this type to declare compliance.

Chesapeake’s Group Packaging & Safety Compliance Officer, Elaine Murray, said: “The ECMA GMP guide was developed for the carton sector and is intended to be adopted by manufacturers of carton-board based packaging for food. It will help minimise any risks of migration, taint & odour changes and contamination within food packaging. Chesapeake declared compliance prior to the annual ECMA Congress which demonstrated our firm commitment to packaging safety and compliance at a key industry event.”

Once the key requirements of the guide have been met, companies may issue a self-declared compliance statement for the manufacturing of food cartons. These companies are listed on the ECMA website and are allowed to use the ECMA compliance seal. 

Jan Cardon, Advisor ECMA Technical Committee, said, “The additional listing of operations on the ECMA self-declared GMP compliance registrar is a very positive signal. Many more companies specialised in food packaging should apply the same efforts and may use the ECMA GMP as an excellent sector specific tool to demonstrate compliance with the GMP regulation (EC) 2023/2006.”