🍎 Food contact materials and articles (FCM) — sensory testing: inherent odour, transfer of odour and taste to food through the air and by direct contact, intensity on a 0–4 scale, triangle test, extended triangle test, DfC test; DIN 10955

Food chemistry DIN 10955

Overview

WHAT THE STANDARD COVERS (according to the publisher’s page — we did not read the text of the standard). “Einführungsbeitrag” on the DIN Media page: DIN 10955:2024-01 specifies a method for the sensory testing of materials and articles intended to come into contact with food (FCM, food contact materials). The method serves to check the legal compliance of FCM with regard to the sensory deterioration of food caused by constituents transferring from the material (Article 3(1)(c) of Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004); the tests may also be used for quality assurance, product development and checking contractual agreements. Purpose of the test: to describe qualitatively the inherent odour of the material and/or give its intensity on an ordinal scale from 0 to 4; to check whether there is a significant sensory difference between a test sample (after contact with the FCM) and a reference sample; to describe in sensory terms the constituents which, under the specified conditions, transfer to a test substance through the air or by direct contact, and to rate their intensity on a scale from 0 to 4. The test substance may be the original product to be packed or a test food. The standard applies to materials and articles of all materials except paper and board which — at the decision of the test leader — should be tested in indirect contact with a test food at room temperature according to DIN EN 1230-2 or have their inherent odour assessed according to DIN EN 1230-1. Examples given by the publisher: for DIN EN 1230-2 — folding boxes for solid foods such as cereal products and confectionery (also in direct contact); for DIN 10955 — coffee and tea filters, paper drinking straws, pizza boxes, kitchen towels, baking paper and baking cups. The standard does not cover sensory changes of packed food that do not come from constituents transferring from the packaging but from its properties: gas permeability (oxygen, carbon dioxide), water vapour barrier or light transmission. The standard was prepared by working committee NA 057-08-01 AA “Sensorik” of the DIN Standards Committee Food and Agricultural Products (NAL).

STRUCTURE OF THE STANDARD (table of contents made available by DIN — titles only). Clause 6 — panel; 7 — reagents (saturated sodium chloride solution); 8 — apparatus: glass or plastic vessels for the odour test, for the test in indirect contact and for the assessment, cutting devices and cutting mats, migration cells, heat or pressure sealer, volume measuring devices or balance, thermostatically controlled oven, incubator or refrigerator; 9 — sampling and sample preparation, taking of test pieces; 10 — test of odour release (inherent odour): one-sided and two-sided contact, Table 1 with typical conditions; 11 — simulation of the transfer of sensorially perceptible substances from FCM to test substances: Table 2 with typical test foods, indirect contact through the air (Tables 3 and 4 — set-ups and typical conditions), direct contact (Table 5 — set-ups and the assumed surface-to-volume ratio depending on the nature of the test substance and the test sample), test with the original food under typical contact conditions, test in the assessment of the best-before date of a food and test of a food complaint sample; 12 — sensory testing of the samples: methods for conformity testing (12.2: triangle test according to DIN EN ISO 4120, extended triangle test, intensity rating by the Difference from Control test, DfC, according to DIN 10976), additional methods for quality control and product development (12.3: simple descriptive test according to DIN 10964, paired comparison test according to DIN EN ISO 5495, ranking test according to DIN ISO 8587, In-Out test according to DIN 10973) and evaluation (12.4: significance and intensity of the deviation, conformity or quality assessment; Table 7 — intensity scale, Table 8 — decision recommendations in conformity testing, Table 9 — maximum number of correct answers c for triangle tests for conformity testing with n assessments); 13 — test report. Informative Annexes A–H: flow chart, instructions for making a sealed tetrahedron, examples of set-ups for indirect contact, determination of the immersion volume, example evaluation forms for the extended triangle test and for the DfC test, application example of a triangle test to demonstrate a difference, examples of the evaluation of intensity ratings (Tables H.1 and H.2 — examples of 6 and of more than 6 intensity ratings with an assessment value of 3).

WHAT HAS CHANGED COMPARED WITH THE 2004-06 EDITION (list of changes on the publisher’s page). The title and scope were extended from packaging materials and packages to food contact materials and articles, and the test — to all sensorially relevant attributes; the test distinguishes the purpose: conformity testing or quality control and product development; it was delimited from DIN EN 1230-2. Terms were added: test sample, test substance, test batch, test set-up, test conditions, screening; in Clause 4 — the ordinal scale. The “group of assessors” was replaced by the panel, with a reference to DIN EN ISO 8586 for selection and training. Added were the saturated sodium chloride solution for setting the air humidity, new test set-ups and new time/temperature combinations, the “immersion volume” for materials immersed in food, the test with the original food, in the assessment of the best-before date and of a complaint sample. For conformity testing only the triangle test, the extended triangle test and the DfC test are permitted; the intensity scale also covers attributes other than odour. In 12.4 a new significance table for evaluating the triangle test was introduced, a new procedure for checking the agreement of results by the range of the individual intensity values, rules for excluding outlying results and the determination of the median of the intensity rating, as well as the recommendation of two assessment values (German Beurteilungswerte) in conformity testing — for the original food and for the test food. Annexes A–H were added. The 2024-01 edition is a corrected document: compared with the 2023-02 edition, among others point 10.2.2 (two-sided contact), the sign in Equation (1) and the footnotes in Tables H.1 and H.2 were corrected, and compared with 2023-10 the entry “DIN 10955:2023-02” in Clause 13 item a was replaced by the words “including the date of issue”; purchasers of the 2023-10 edition receive the corrected version free of charge.

THE 2004-06 EDITION (withdrawn). DIN Media page: DIN 10955:2004-06 “Sensorische Prüfung — Prüfung von Packstoffen und Packmitteln für Lebensmittel” (sensory analysis — testing of packaging materials and packages for foodstuffs), 16 pages, marked “[ZURÜCKGEZOGEN]” (withdrawn); it replaced DIN 10955:1983-04. According to the publisher’s description, the test was to establish whether a packaging material or package has an inherent odour or contains substances which, under specified conditions, transfer through the air or by direct contact to a test substance and affect its taste; odour was tested by a difference test by sniffing after a specified storage time of the test batches, taste — by difference tests on test substances. To paper and board this edition applied only conditionally: odour and taste transfer in indirect contact at room temperature were tested according to DIN EN 1230-1 and DIN EN 1230-2, which partly replaced DIN 10955. Compared with 1983-04, the sample size was set at 6 dm² (as in EN 1230-1 and -2), the number of independent results required for arbitration analyses was increased from 5 to 6, and individual results were regarded as consistent if they deviated from the median by no more than 1.5.

STATUS (publisher’s page DIN Media as of 07.11.2026). DIN 10955:2024-01 — marked “[AKTUELL]” (current), date of issue 2024-01, original language German (an English translation is also on sale), 51 pages, ICS 67.240 and 67.250, DOI 10.31030/3505541. It is a German national standard: a search for “10955” in the PKN shop returns no results (07.11.2026), so Polish laboratories use it in the original. The publisher’s page does not give the withdrawal date of the 2004-06 edition. Standards cited together with DIN 10955 in the scopes: PN-EN 1230-1:2009 “Papier i tektura przeznaczone do kontaktu z żywnością -- Analiza sensoryczna -- Część 1: Zapach” (paper and board intended to come into contact with foodstuffs — sensory analysis — Part 1: Odour) and PN-EN 1230-2:2009 “… -- Część 2: Obcy smak (skaza)” (Part 2: Off-flavour (taint)) — PKN cards (English version, read on 07.11.2026) without a withdrawal note, published 15-12-2009, KT 25 Pulp, Paper, Board and their Products, adopting EN 1230-1:2009 and EN 1230-2:2009 [IDT].

REGULATION. Article 3(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 (consolidated text of 27.03.2021): materials and articles shall be manufactured in compliance with good manufacturing practice so that, under normal or foreseeable conditions of use, they do not transfer their constituents to food in quantities which could endanger human health, bring about an unacceptable change in the composition of the food or (point c) bring about a deterioration in its organoleptic characteristics (our translation of the Polish text). The regulation itself does not specify a test method — its text contains no reference to a standard for sensory testing (search of the consolidated text).

HOW MANY LABORATORIES AND IN WHAT FORM (copy of the accreditation scope database, read on 07.11.2026; “Laboratories” tab on labcoda.pl, 07.11.2026). The number 10955 in the reference document field appears in 14 items at 14 Polish laboratories (one each): AB 079, AB 185, AB 311, AB 313, AB 343, AB 379, AB 435, AB 451, AB 486, AB 492, AB 521, AB 537, AB 552, AB 562. Forms: “DIN 10955:2024-01” (12 items), “DIN 10955:2024 - 01” (AB 435) and “DIN 10955:2004” — the withdrawn edition (AB 486). In two items the standard is cited together with PN-EN 1230-1:2009 and PN-EN 1230-2:2009 (AB 185, AB 311). Outside Poland there is 1 item of the Czech laboratory 1004 (“ČSN ISO 13302; DIN 10955”). The “Laboratories” tab (“DIN 10955”, matching by the beginning of the entry) shows 15 laboratories: these 14 Polish and 1 Czech, each with one item — the same as the copy. We did not compare the current PCA scope documents of these laboratories with the copy.

WHAT THE LABORATORIES TEST (database copy, complete items). Object: materials and articles intended to come into contact with food (AB 311, AB 343, AB 521; AB 552 — “with food products”; AB 379 and AB 451 — packaging materials and articles), plastic materials and articles (AB 313, AB 435, AB 486, AB 562; AB 492 — also articles of natural materials; AB 537 — “of plastics and others”) and broad lists: AB 079 — electrical articles, ceramics, glass, paper and board, packaging components, articles of plastics and rubber, materials for packaging production, food storage articles, nonwovens, wooden articles; AB 185 — paper, board, plastics, multilayer materials. Methodology: odour and taste transferred by direct contact — 10 items in various wordings (AB 079, AB 311, AB 313, AB 343, AB 379, AB 451, AB 486, AB 492, AB 521, AB 552), “Odour and taste” (AB 435), “Presence of foreign taste and odour on a 0–4 scale” (AB 537, AB 562), “Change of odour and taste” (AB 185). The range “0–4” is recorded as a parameter in 7 items (AB 079, AB 311, AB 313, AB 343, AB 435, AB 486, AB 492). Technique: “multiple comparison method” (Polish “Metoda multiporównawcza”) — 9 items (AB 079, AB 311, AB 313, AB 343, AB 435, AB 451, AB 486, AB 492, AB 521), “triangle method” — 4 (AB 379, AB 537, AB 552, AB 562), “extended triangle method” — 1 (AB 185). Czech 1004: articles, materials and packaging for food contact — assessment of odour, taste and appearance.

WHERE A SEEMINGLY CORRECT RESULT IS EASY TO GET. Choice of standard and sample: paper and board tested in indirect contact at room temperature belong to EN 1230-2, and their inherent odour — to EN 1230-1; the scopes of AB 079 and AB 185 cover paper and board, and AB 185 and AB 311 cite both parts of PN-EN 1230 alongside DIN 10955 — a report that does not state which standard was used for which material does not say under what conditions the result was obtained. The result of this method says nothing about the barrier properties of the packaging (gases, water vapour, light) — that is outside the standard. Evaluation: for testing legal compliance the 2024 edition permits only the triangle test, the extended triangle test and the DfC test (publisher’s list of changes), while in 9 scope items the technique is the “multiple comparison method” — which of the standard’s methods this name corresponds to cannot be seen from the scope. The 2024 edition introduced a new significance table for the triangle test — evaluating the number of correct answers against the table of the 2004 edition is not an evaluation according to 2024-01. Calculation of intensity: the result is the median of the ratings; the 2004 edition regarded individual results as consistent if they deviated from the median by no more than 1.5, while the 2024 edition checks agreement by the range of the individual ratings and has rules for excluding outliers — the scope of AB 486 cites the 2004 edition, so a figure on the 0–4 scale calculated according to those rules is not a result according to 2024-01. In conformity testing the 2024 edition recommends two assessment values — separately for the original food and for the test food; a result that does not state the test substance cannot be compared with either of them.

WHAT WE DO NOT GIVE. We did not read the text of DIN 10955:2024-01 — the entry is based on the publisher’s page (description, list of changes, edition data) and on the table of contents made available by DIN. We therefore do not give the test conditions (times and temperatures from Tables 1 and 4), the test foods (Table 2), the set-ups and surface-to-volume ratio (Table 5), the sample size in the 2024 edition, the number of assessors in the panel, the description of the levels of the 0–4 scale (Table 7), the values from Tables 8 and 9, the rules for excluding results, the way of determining the median or the figures of the two assessment values. We did not establish which method of the standard the “multiple comparison method” in the accreditation scopes corresponds to. We did not check the status of DIN EN ISO 4120, DIN 10976, DIN 10964, DIN EN ISO 5495, DIN ISO 8587, DIN 10973, DIN EN ISO 8586 or ČSN ISO 13302. We did not check references to DIN 10955 in Polish legislation.

Method principle

A sample of a material or article intended to come into contact with food is stored under specified conditions in a vessel — on its own (inherent odour) or with a test substance (original food or test food), in indirect contact through the air or in direct contact; a panel then assesses the sensory attributes (odour, taste) of the test substance against a reference sample: for conformity testing by the triangle test, the extended triangle test or the DfC test, and the intensity of the deviation — on an ordinal scale from 0 to 4, with the median of the ratings as the result (DIN 10955:2024-01 according to the publisher’s description and the table of contents; we did not read the test conditions or the values of the tables).

Applications

• Materials and articles of all materials intended to come into contact with food — except paper and board tested in indirect contact at room temperature (EN 1230-2) or for inherent odour (EN 1230-1) (publisher’s description)
• Publisher’s examples for DIN 10955: coffee and tea filters, paper drinking straws, pizza boxes, kitchen towels, baking paper, baking cups
• Checking compliance with Article 3(1)(c) of Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 (deterioration of the organoleptic characteristics of food); also quality control, product development, checking contracts, assessment of the best-before date, complaint samples
• In accreditation scopes: 14 Polish laboratories — plastics, packaging, ceramics, glass, paper and board, rubber, wood, nonwovens, electrical articles for food contact; 0–4 scale

Key parameters

Standard

Standard number

DIN 10955:2024-01

Title (PL)

Analiza sensoryczna — Badanie materiałów i wyrobów przeznaczonych do kontaktu z żywnością (FCM) (tłumaczenie robocze tytułu niemieckiego — normy nie wprowadzono do PN)

Title (EN)

Sensory analysis — Testing of food contact materials and articles (FCM)

Step-by-step procedure

1. Choice of standard and purpose of the test

   Establishing whether the material falls under DIN 10955 or (paper and board in indirect contact at room temperature, odour of paper) under EN 1230-2 or EN 1230-1, and whether it is conformity testing or quality control and product development (publisher’s description; flow chart — Annex A, title).

2. Sampling and sample preparation

   Taking of test samples, preparation and taking of test pieces (clause 9 — titles).

3. Test batches and storage

   Inherent odour — one-sided or two-sided contact (clause 10); transfer to the test substance — through the air (indirect contact) or in direct contact, with the original food or a test food, under specified time and temperature conditions (clause 11 — titles; values from the tables not given).

4. Sensory assessment

   For conformity testing: triangle test, extended triangle test or DfC test against a reference sample; rating of the intensity of the deviation on a scale from 0 to 4 (point 12.2, Table 7 — titles).

5. Result

   Significance of the deviation (significance table of the triangle test), median of the intensity ratings after checking the agreement of results and excluding outliers, conformity or quality assessment; report citing the standard including the date of issue (clauses 12.4 and 13). DIN 10955:2024-01 — current (publisher’s page DIN Media, 07.11.2026).

Required equipment and apparatus

Reagents, media and consumables

Health and safety (OHS)

• Taste assessment involves tasting food after contact with the material under test; we do not give the standard’s rules for the safety of assessors (we did not read the text)
• TECHNICAL NOTE: for testing legal compliance the 2024 edition permits only the triangle test, the extended triangle test and the DfC test — the result of another sensory method serves quality control, not the conformity assessment (publisher’s list of changes)
• TECHNICAL NOTE: a result according to the withdrawn 2004 edition (different criterion for the agreement of results, different significance table) is not a result according to DIN 10955:2024-01

Frequently asked questions