Guidance on safety requirements for biocides: Packaging requirements

On this page

• Safe packaging
• Minimizing degradation
• Food- and drink-like packaging
• Child-resistant packaging

Your biocide must meet the packaging requirements in the Biocides Regulations and the requirements of the Food and Drugs Act. These requirements help to ensure that biocides:

• are safely contained and accessed
• go through minimal change or degradation through their packaging
• are not confused with foods or drinks

Safe packaging

You must construct the package so that it safely contains the biocide under normal conditions during:

• storage
• display
• distribution

You must also construct the package to allow users to:

• remove the biocide from its package safely
• close the package to ensure the biocide is maintained safely under normal storage conditions

Minimizing degradation

A biocide's efficacy is linked to its contact time with the surface and the potency of its ingredients. Packaging helps to maintain efficacy and safe use.

The packaging should:

• not interact with the biocide
• prevent leaks
• minimize degradation
• minimize moisture loss
• be re-closeable, if applicable

For example, you can minimize degradation by having packaging that:

• prevents volatile ingredients from evaporating (for example, isopropyl alcohol and ethanol)
  • can reduce the efficacy of an ingredient and lead to moisture loss and decreased contact time
• is opaque if the biocide contains photosensitive ingredients (for example, hypochlorous acid)
  • can degrade when exposed to light
• is resistant to corrosive ingredients
  • packaging may become brittle over time, which can increase the risk of accidental leaks or spills
  • for example, avoid metal packaging for quaternary ammonium compounds

Food- and drink-like packaging

According to section 9(1) of the Food and Drugs Act:

"no person shall label, package, treat, process, sell or advertise any drug in a manner that is false, misleading or deceptive or is likely to create an erroneous impression regarding its character, value, quantity, composition, merit or safety"

You should not package or label your biocide in a way that leads users to think it contains consumable products, such as foods or beverages. This type of packaging or labelling is misleading to the public and can increase the risk of unintentional ingestion. Ingesting a biocide could be harmful or fatal, especially to children.

Examples of containers that resemble foods or beverages and should be avoided include:

• water and soda bottles
• wine and liquor bottles
• children's food pouches
• sachets that look like those used for powdered drink mixes

Child-resistant packaging

Children are at increased risk of being accidentally exposed to biocides. You should use a child-resistant container to hold your biocide if your biocide is for use in:

• domestic settings
• commercial settings where children may have access to it
  • for example, daycares or schools

We recommend that you design and construct your packages to meet the requirements for child-resistant containers in the Consumer Chemicals and Containers Regulations, 2001 (sections 9 through 14).

Find information on child-resistant containers in the reference manual for these regulations.