The Working Group on food contact materials (FCMs) of the toxicological safety section of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SC-PAFF) consists of experts representing the Member States. This Working Group assists the European Commission (EC) in relevant policy areas by providing “formal opinions on measures the Commission intends to adopt to implement EU legislation.” For the meetings held in 2016, three summaries have been so far published on the EC’s webpage on food-related consultations, and the agenda of the fourth meeting is announced.
At the meeting held on January 18, 2016, a draft measure on bisphenol A (BPA) in FCMs, amendments to Regulation (EU) No 10/2011, and authorization of plastic recycling processes were discussed. The draft measure on BPA proposed to lower the specific migration limit (SML) for BPA in plastic FCMs, and the same limit shall be applied to varnishes and coatings (FPF reported); the SML itself as well as the need for a swift introduction of such a measure were discussed. With regard to the 6th amendment to Regulation (EU) No 10/2011, prioritization of substances to be re-evaluated and the suggestion to delete the generic specific migration limit (GML) because it is not linked to safety, but strengthen the overall migration limit (OML), were discussed. With regard to the glass fiber sizing, after discussion it was concluded that the sizing agents should be no longer exempted from EU 10/2011. Authorization of recycling processes was discussed by the task force on recycling, consisting of a limited number of Member States representatives.
At the meeting held on April 19-20, 2016, the topics of the previous meeting were further discussed, along with the draft report on the “base-line” study on the non-harmonized food contact materials. Also, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)’s scientific opinion on the risk assessment of FCMs (FPF reported) and its implications for future guidelines on FCM risk assessment and management, as well as a variety of other items. The latest draft of the 6th amendment to Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 was presented; on August 25, 2016 this amendment was published (FPF reported). The report by the Dutch Institute of Public Health drawing attention to the potent immunotoxic effects of BPA (FPF reported) was discussed, along with the planned follow-up on these findings by EFSA (FPF reported). The draft of the “base-line” study, carried out by the EC’s Joint Research Center (JRC) with the goal to summarize the regulatory and market situation for those FCMs that still lack specific EU-wide legislations (FPF reported), was presented; as of now, this study has not yet been published.
At the meeting held on July 1, 2016, BPA measure, EFSA’s scientific opinion on risk assessment of FCMs, amendments to Regulation (EU) No 10/2011, and authorization of recycling processes were further discussed, along with a draft recommendation for mineral oil monitoring, and a variety of other items. A draft “Recommendation on the monitoring of mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOH) in food and materials and articles intended to come into contact with food” proposed to broaden the scope of the monitoring to include the pre-packaged food and packaging materials with and without functional barriers, due to the fact that MOH migration from FCMs such as recycled paperboard could contribute significantly to the total exposure to MOH from food. The draft Recommendation was “generally welcomed”, but existing challenges with regard to resources and analytical methodology were specifically highlighted. The discussions on the 7th amendment to Regulation EU No 10/2011 started with the presentation of several aspects regarding some new substances, a migration limit for nickel, and possible options for OML testing for dry foods. After some discussion, a vote for BPA measures was preliminary planned to take place in September 2016. Further, the working group was informed that the mandates on standardization within the Annual Work Programme (AWP) of the EC for 2016/2017 should include analytical methods and risk assessment under Article 19 of Regulation (EU) 10/2011. Finally, a short discussion was held on a proposal from the World Association of manufacturers of Bottles and Teats (WBT) concerning the migration test conditions for plastic baby bottles.
For the meeting that took place on September 8-9, 2016, no summary is available yet; agenda items include discussions on migration testing guidelines, amendments to Regulation (EU) No 10/2011, recommendation on the monitoring of mineral oil, authorization of recycling processes, and EFSA’s opinion on recent developments in safety assessment.
Reference
Working Group on food contact materials of the toxicological safety section of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SC-PAFF) (2016). “Draft Agenda – Meeting January 18, 2016.” (pdf)
Working Group on food contact materials of the toxicological safety section of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SC-PAFF) (2016). “Summary – Meeting January 18, 2016.” (pdf)
Working Group on food contact materials of the toxicological safety section of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SC-PAFF) (2016). “Draft Agenda – Meeting April 19-20, 2016.” (pdf)
Working Group on food contact materials of the toxicological safety section of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SC-PAFF) (2016). “Summary – Meeting April 19-20, 2016.” (pdf)
Working Group on food contact materials of the toxicological safety section of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SC-PAFF) (2016). “Draft Agenda – Meeting July 1, 2016.” (pdf)
Working Group on food contact materials of the toxicological safety section of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SC-PAFF) (2016). “Summary – Meeting July 1, 2016.” (pdf)
Working Group on food contact materials of the toxicological safety section of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SC-PAFF) (2016). “Draft Agenda – Meeting September 8-9, 2016.” (pdf)
