The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is lending up to €20M to help glass bottle manufacturer Stirom SA Romania modernise a furnace and reform its distribution systems.
In the latest of a string of investments by the bank aimed at improving the country's packaging sector, Yioula SA, Greece-owned Stirom may also use the money to buy additional capacity. It follows the lending of €3.9M to establish two bottling plants in the 1990s (Coca-Cola Bihor and Iasi), and €27.5M to build a brewery for United Romanian Breweries. The bank also sank €1.2M into Efes breweries in 2002. Along with general loans drawn upon by the packaging and bottling sector, the EBRD is the largest investor in Romania, with commitments exceeding €2.5bn. The bank has been especially keen to toughen the country's economy in preparation for its anticipated accession to the EU in 2007.
Food contact guidance
Food contact materials guidance for companies applying for market approvals for new packaging substances in direct contact with foodstuffs has been issued by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). This aims to help companies comply with EU regulation 1935/2004, agreed last October, which legalised substances that react with food, informing customers about freshness, for example.
The new authority guide advises on the administrative and technical data required in such applications and on the format for formal submissions to national regulators, which are then forwarded to EFSA. It also includes two model letters for applicants, along with a required data checklist, including sections on toxicology, residues and microbiological substances. The regulation operates a positive list method; any unlisted food contact materials are deemed banned. Regulators would have full access to any data and some parts of applications would be publicly available, excluding some particularly commercially confidential information.
