The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes and Processing Aids (CEP Panel) published the minutes of the 25th meeting of its Working Group on Food Contact Materials (WG-FCM), held in October. Recently, the working group discussed article 11 of the EU drinking water directive on the “minimum hygiene requirements for materials that come into contact with water intended for human consumption” as well as “had some exchange of thoughts on the evaluation of so-called biobased, natural or sustainable food contact materials.”
The EFSA CEP Panel also published the minutes of the 53rd through 60th meetings of its Working Group on bisphenol A (BPA, CAS 80-05-7) re-evaluation (WG-BPA) held June through October. The meetings focused on the “re-evaluation of the risks to public health related to the presence of BPA in foodstuffs and protocol for the risk assessment strategy” and each meeting was dedicated to a different health aspect experts mentioned in the working group’s first round of expert feedback. The last several meetings have discussed in vitro and in vivo genotoxicity studies including “uncertainty analysis (incl. methodology), health based guidance value, risk characterisation and hazard identification.”
Updated minutes of the 28th and 29th meetings of its Working Group on Recycling Plastic (WG-RP), both held in September, were also published. In August and October, the panel published the safety assessments of 15 different processes for recycling post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) into food contact materials.
The working group on preparation for re-evaluation of phthalates, structurally similar substances, and replacement substances held their 14th through 19th meetings. According to the minutes, every other meeting focused on either ‘protocol for exposure assessment’ or ‘prioritization.’ Both subgroups are working on a draft protocol for exposure assessment with a first draft presented to the CEP Panel in September. Feedback from the first draft is currently being incorporated to present at the next meeting of the CEP Panel in November.
The newest EFSA CEP Panel on extraction solvents met for the third and fourth times. Both meetings pertained to the safety evaluation of 2-methyloxolane as an extraction solvent.
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EFSA CEP Panel (October 28, 2021). “Minutes of the meetings of the working group on BPA re-evaluation.” (pdf)
EFSA CEP Panel (October 25, 2021). “Minutes of the meetings of the working group on extraction solvents.” (pdf)
EFSA CEP Panel (October 21, 2021). “Minutes of the meetings of the working group on preparation for re-evaluation of phthalates, structurally similar substances and replacement substances.” (pdf)
EFSA CEP Panel (October 12, 2021). “Minutes of the meetings of the working group on food contact materials 2018-2021.” (pdf)
EFSA CEP Panel (September 18, 2021). “Minutes of the meetings of the working group on recycling plastics 2018-2021.” (pdf)
EFSA CEP Panel (October 2021). “Food Contact Materials, Enzymes and Processing Aids.”
