Drinkware Food-Safety Certifications Explained

Importing drinkware means proving it's safe for food contact. But buyers are often handed a stack of certificate names with no explanation. Here's what FDA, LFGB, EU 1935/2004, California Prop 65, and GRS actually mean, and which ones your market requires.

FDA (United States)

The US FDA standard (21 CFR) governs food-contact materials. For stainless steel and plastic drinkware sold in the US, FDA compliance is the baseline. It tests that materials don't leach harmful substances into your drink.

LFGB (Germany / EU)

LFGB is Germany's food-safety standard — stricter than the general EU rule and widely treated as a premium benchmark across Europe. If you sell into Germany or want a strong EU compliance signal, ask for LFGB.

EU Regulation 1935/2004

This is the framework regulation for all food-contact materials sold in the European Union. It's the EU baseline; LFGB sits on top of it for the German market.

California Prop 65 (USA)

California's Proposition 65 requires warnings about specific chemicals. For drinkware sold into California — effectively, the whole US market — Prop 65 compliance avoids costly legal exposure.

GRS (Recycled Materials)

The Global Recycled Standard certifies recycled content and a responsible supply chain. If your brand is positioned on sustainability, GRS substantiates recycled-material claims credibly.

The question that matters more than the acronym

Buyers usually ask "do you have LFGB?" The more useful question is "is the report for this exact model, and how old is it?" — because that is where problems actually come from.

Reports are model-specific, not factory-wide. A test report covers the materials and construction that were submitted. A supplier can hold a genuine LFGB report for one product and hand it to you for a different one. Check that the model number on the report matches what you are buying, and that the material description matches too.

Reports expire in practice, if not on paper. Standards get revised, and a report from five years ago may test against a superseded version. Ask for the test date.

The lab has to be accredited. "Third-party tested" means nothing without a name. Ours come from STQ, and every report is downloadable from our certifications page before you order rather than promised by email afterwards. If a supplier will not name the lab, that itself is the answer.

Ask before you order, not after. The expensive version of this conversation is when your customer's compliance team asks for a document you assumed existed, three weeks before an in-store date.

What each market actually asks for

United States. FDA 21 CFR for food contact, plus California Prop 65 if you sell in California — which in practice means always, because marketplace sellers cannot geofence. Amazon in particular asks for Prop 65 at unpredictable moments.

European Union and UK. EU Regulation 1935/2004 as the framework, plus LFGB, which is a German standard but functions as the de facto benchmark for European retail buyers. If a European chain asks for "the German test", this is what they mean.

Recycled material claims. GRS if you intend to state recycled content on the packaging. Without it, do not make the claim — this is exactly the sort of thing that gets a shipment stopped on a European retail shelf.

One honest note on what we do not hold: we have no EN 13432 or ASTM D6400 certification, so we will not let you print "certified biodegradable" or "compostable" on a box, even for our bamboo-fibre range. We would rather lose that line of copy than have your shipment pulled.

Which Certifications Do You Need?

• USA: FDA + California Prop 65
• EU general: EU 1935/2004
• Germany / premium EU: LFGB
• Sustainability claims: GRS

Jupeng holds all of these and provides the test reports up front. Download our certifications — no "we'll send it later."

Written by the Jupeng Drinkware team — Yongkang, Zhejiang, China. Manufacturing drinkware since 1998. Contact Beyond: [email protected] | WhatsApp +86 156 5791 8881