The new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (EU 40/2025) sets ambitious targets for preventing packaging waste, including by encouraging the use of reusable packaging. In addition to the challenges of designing reusable packaging, the logistics chain (including reverse logistics), new business models and the like, ensuring food safety and quality also plays a crucial role. In order to enable the introduction of reusable plastic packaging for foodstuffs with an extended shelf life, such as soups and sauces, various challenges in the microbial, chemical and physical fields (including microplastics) still need to be addressed. The presentation will explain the HERPAK project, which focuses on the microbial and chemical challenges associated with the use of three types of commonly used plastic packaging in food: PET, PP and Tritan. The project includes the validation of industrial washing processes, the maximum time between use and industrial washing, the effect of residual detergents and disinfectants, changes in migration after multiple washing cycles, and changes in odour after multiple use and cleaning cycles. The HERPAK project, coordinated by Pack4Food, is industry-driven and carried out in close collaboration with Ghent University and Flanders FOOD.