On December 4-6, 2018, the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) Scientific Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes and Processing Aids (CEP) held its fourth plenary meeting in Parma, Italy. The meeting minutes were agreed on January 4, 2019 and are now available online.
The CEP Panel’s Working Group (WG) on Phthalates reported on its progress regarding the safety reevaluation of dibutyl phthalate (DBP, CAS 84-74-2), benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP, CAS 85-68-7), bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP, CAS 117-81-7), diisononyl phthalate (DINP, CAS 28553-12-0), and diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP, CAS 26761-40-0) which are authorized for use in food contact materials (FCMs) (FPF reported). During the meeting, “the Panel discussed whether some of the phthalates should be included in a group-TDI based on their toxicity and taking into account the relative potency factors of the different phthalates.” Further, the Panel also discussed “a proposal for the approach for combined exposure assessment and the relevant population group(s) to be considered in the risk characterization.” The WG will continue to work on these issues and present a revised draft to the Panel at the next plenary meeting on February 5-7, 2019 before releasing it for public comment.
The Panel also discussed: 1) the draft opinion on the safety evaluation of poly((R)-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-(R)-3-hydroxyhexanoate) (CAS 147398-31-0) for use in food contact materials and 2) the draft opinion on the safety evaluation of montmorillonite organic clay modified with hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CAS 57-09-0) for use in food contact materials. After discussing the risk assessments, the Panel unanimously adopted both opinions “subject to incorporation of changes as suggested during the meeting.”
Further, new mandates were received since the last plenary meeting, including three requests for safety assessments of recycled FCMs by Austrian company Starlinger visotec: RecoKavala recycling process, PETman GMbH recycling process, and the Marcato recycling process.
Read more
CEP (January 4, 2018). “Scientific Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes and Processing Aids (CEP) – Minutes of the 4th plenary meeting.” (pdf)
