In an article published on August 22, 2016 by news provider Foodconsumer, Sonya Lunder, senior analyst at the non-profit organization Environmental Working Group (EWG) informs that the deadline for comments to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the use of phthalates in food contact materials (FCMs) has been extended until September 19, 2016. In March 2016, a group of U.S. environmental, consumer and public health groups submitted a food additive petition proposing the FDA to “amend and/or revoke specified regulations to no longer provide for the food contact use of specified ortho-phthalates” (FPF reported). Lunder highlights that currently “the FDA allows phthalates in food as ‘indirect additives,’” meaning that “food companies don’t have to worry when phthalates leach from plastic tubing or packaging into our food.” Phthalates are endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that have been linked to genital defects in boys, asthma, early puberty in girls, endometriosis, and learning disabilities, Lunder explains. Therefore, Lunder encourages consumers to take action and “tell the FDA that phthalates do not belong in our food.”
Read more
Sonya Lunder (August 22, 2016). “FDA to accept public comments on endocrine-disrupting phthalates in food until Sept. 16.” Foodconsumer
