On October 6-8, 2021, the 9th annual workshop of the Food Packaging Forum (FPF) took place in a virtual format. Under the topic “Different perspectives on food contact materials: Working together to make FCMs safer” more than 150 registered participants listened to and discussed the latest scientific and regulatory developments related to the safety of food packaging. Additionally, insights from retailers, supply chain experts, and civil society groups were shared.
On each day of the workshop, several 15-minute presentations were given that were followed by panel discussions. This setup gave the participants the opportunity to ask live questions. Additionally, speakers answered questions in small break-out groups at the end of each session. Both the slides and video recordings of most presentations are now publicly available on the event’s page, and a series of short news articles provide summaries of all presentations. The virtual platform used during the workshop will remain open for registered participants until April 2022.
The first day of the workshop started with an overview of food contact chemicals (FCCs) in migrates and extracts of food contact materials and articles. Then, human biomonitoring and mixture effects of FCCs as well as human health impacts of micro- and nanoparticles were addressed, followed by a critical review on the use of thresholds in toxicology and a presentation on the influence of chemicals on human health (FPF reported).
The second day featured talks about getting the right data from supply chain actors, US retailer Whole Food’s initiatives to phase out hazardous chemicals from packaging, and plastic recycling. The ongoing evaluation and revision of the EU FCM legislation by the European Commission was covered in the last presentation of the day (FPF reported).
On the third and final day, the UP Scorecard was presented as a new tool to reduce environmental and human health impacts of food packaging, followed by talks about regulating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as a group in California, sustainable developments of consumer products in the focus of official control laboratories, plastics and human health, and cooperation and collaboration during uncertain times (FPF reported).
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Food Packaging Forum (October 8, 2021). “Different perspectives on food contact materials: Working together to make FCMs safer.”
