The PET industry generates a significant and growing volume of testing data on food contact substances. Yet much of that data remains isolated, held in separate datasets, produced by different laboratories using different methods, and rarely compared at scale.
The result is a fragmented picture that makes it harder to identify patterns, act early, and make fully informed food safety decisions.
GENI — the General NIAS Initiative — is the industry's response to that challenge.
Launched by PETCORE EUROPE in collaboration with KÖR, GENI is the PET industry's first shared food safety intelligence initiative. It brings together companies across the value chain, recyclers, converters, brand owners and virgin resin producers, to pool anonymised testing data and turn it into collective knowledge.
An individual test result tells you what was found in a specific sample. What it cannot tell you is whether the same substance appears across the value chain, how frequently it is detected, or whether concentrations are changing over time. Those answers require a broader view, one that no single company or laboratory can build alone.
GENI creates that view. Members contribute samples and analytical data, accompanied by contextual information about production and collection. KÖR acts as GENI's independent Data Trustee, processing and anonymising contributions through the secure KÖR LABS platform before returning aggregated statistics, benchmarks and trend analysis to members. Individual results are never shared between participants.
Recycled content targets are rising, substances in plastics face increasing regulatory and public scrutiny, and the evidence base the industry needs to respond is still being built. GENI is designed to help build it, not by replacing existing testing, regulation or safety assessment, but by making better use of the knowledge the industry is already generating.
As Bernd Schwarz, Chief Chemical Officer of KÖR, put it at launch: "Data should be a bridge, not a barrier."
GENI puts that principle into practice.
Testing is scheduled to begin in November 2026, with the first reports planned for January 2027. Companies joining before 31 October will benefit from the first reporting cycle.
To learn more about GENI and how to participate, contact KÖR directly at hello@kor-group.com or PETCORE EUROPE at geni@petcore-europe.org
