In an article published on March 23, 2016 by news provider Food Production Daily, journalist Joe Whitworth reports on a draft regulation by the European Commission’s (EC) Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) concerning the regulation of bisphenol A (BPA, CAS 80-05-7) in food contact materials (FCMs). The draft regulation, which has been notified to the World Trade Organization, lowers the specific migration limit (SML) for food contact plastics from 0.6mg/kg to 0.05 mg/kg. This value is well below an SML (0.24 mg/kg food) based on the temporary Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) of 4 µg/kg body weight/day which had been set by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in its 2015 scientific opinion on BPA (FPF reported). This suggests that the EC is taking into account other routes of BPA exposure in addition to dietary uptake from FCMs. It is worth noting that the SML for bisphenol S (BPS, CAS 80-09-1), used as an alternative to BPA, is also 0.05 mg/kg.

The lowered SML shall also apply to varnishes and coatings used in FCMs. Further, criteria for verification of compliance and requirements for the written declaration of compliance (DOC) for varnished or coated FCMs are outlined in the draft.

The draft regulation is planned to be adopted and published in the Official Journal of the European Union in September 2016. The provisions shall apply from six months after the entry into force of the regulation (i.e. March 2017). Comments on the draft regulation can be submitted to DG SANTE by May 13, 2016.

Read more

Joe Whitworth (March 23, 2016). “Stricter and expanded BPA regulation proposed in Europe.Food Production Daily

World Trade Organization (March 14, 2016). “Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures – Notification – European Union – Materials and articles in contact with food.

Emma Stoye (April 6, 2016). “EU plans tighter controls on BPA.Chemistry World

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