The European Union recently decided that materials containing wood flour or wood fibers will no longer be permitted in food contact products in the future. This decision is not based on individual products’ safety, but rather on a precautionary, category-based regulation that applies to all such materials – regardless of their proven safety. YLE News published an article about the recent changes in these regulations, interviewing Skandino’s founder Emmi Lemmetty.

So are Skandino’s biobased products safe to use anymore?

✅ Yes, absolutely.
We haven’t made any compromises in product safety and never will. Our biobased material has been thoroughly tested and meets all current EU food contact safety standards. It is 100% safe to continue normal use!

Why are the products still available for sale, if the EU banned the material? What’s the plot here?

The EU regulation affects future use of the material in new production. We are still fully authorized to sell and distribute products already manufactured and in stock. As always, we fully comply with all current laws and guidelines.

Why was such a broad ban put in place, even for safe materials?

Good question! We’re exploring this, too, as we speak. As far as we can judge, this is a case of precautionary, one-size-fits-all regulation:
👉 Not all wood is safe. We understand that. To avoid the need to assess each product individually, the EU decided to prohibit the entire group of materials that include wood fibers.

🧠 Think of it like this:
If the EU decided to ban all mushrooms due to the potential risk of poisonous species, even the completely safe and delicious champignon mushroom would be banned – simply because it belongs to the mushroom family.

Is it an overreaction? It sure feels like one, but we’re working our way out of this.

What happens next?

We’re currently forming a detailed review of old and updated regulations to find the extent the news concern us or not. Despite our products being 100% safe, there’s a possible scenario where we can’t produce them in the EU/EEA anymore. We’re already developing solutions, e.q. our material, to meet the updated EU requirements. Our goal is to continue leading the way in responsible and innovative product design.

💚 Thank you for your trust – and thank you for asking questions. We’re here to keep you informed and safe. You can follow the news by checking this website and/or our social media channels (find links at the bottom of the page).

Have more questions? Feel free to contact us anytime. You’ll find the chat button on the bottom right of the screen or email us directly at info@skandino.com !