Avantium’s PEF Receives FDA Food-Contact Approval

The latest news from Avantium, the Dutch technology company developing renewable and circular alternatives to plastic, is that its 100% plant-based, recyclable polyethylene furanoate (PEF) has received Food Contact Notification approval from the U.S. FDA.

Food packaging is among the many applications for Avantium’s plastic alternative to PET. The material offers a longer shelf life, which results in less food waste. Under this approval, Avantium’s food contact grade PEF can be used as packaging for all food types except for infant formulas, foods with more than 15% alcohol, or human milk. A similar approval has already been received by the company for food packaging in the EU and the U.K.

Avantium’s PEF polymer is made of surplus food starch from feedstock such as wheat and corn. The company’s flagship plant — designed to manufacture furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), the main building block for PEF — is officially launching this October and will serve as the official introduction of this novel plastic into the commercial realm. The company has already established agreements with brands looking to reserve specific amounts of PEF or the building block material, FDCA, in the future, including global brands such as LVMH, AmBev and Carlsberg. The conditional offtake agreements already secured by Avantium represent 95% of the capacity of the flagship plant for the first five years of operation, demonstrating the company’s progress and headway it has already started to make in the industry.