Food contact materials are materials that are intended to be in contact with food. These can be things that are quite obvious like a glass or a can for soft drinks as well as machinery in a food factory or a coffee machine. Food contact materials can be constructed from a variety of materials, including plastics, rubber, paper, coatings, metal, etc. In many cases, a combination is used; for example, a carton box for juices can include (from the inside to the outside) a plastic layer, aluminum, paper, printing, and top coating. During contact with the food, molecules can migrate from the food contact material to the food, for example, via blooming. Because of this, in many countries, regulations are made to ensure food safety. Food safe symbol The international symbol for "food safe" material is a wine glass and a fork symbol. The symbol indicates that the material used in the product is considered safe for food contact. This includes food and water containers, packaging materials, cutlery etc. The regulation is applicable to any product intended for food contact whether it be made of metals, ceramics, paper and board, and plastics or the coating. Use of the symbol is more significant in products which should be explicitly identified whether food safe or not, i.e. wherever there is an ambiguity whether the container could be used to hold foodstuffs. The symbol is used in North America, Europe and parts of Asia. It is mandatory for products sold in Europe after the Framework Regulation EC 1935/2004. In plastic containers, over and above the prescribed resin identification codes (viz; , , , ), the food safe assurance is required because the resin identification codes do not explicitly communicate the food safe property (or more significantly, the lack of it). Even though the legal requirement in various nations would be different, the food safe symbol generally assures that: The container surface is free of any toxic contaminants which could be contacted from the manufacturing process. The container material shall not potentially become a source of toxic contamination through usage (degeneration). This is assured by estimating and regulating the "migration limits" of the material. In EU regulation, the overall migration is limited to 10 mg of substances/dm² of the potential contact surface. The specific migration for various materials would be different for different temperature levels (of food as well as storage) and for different