UK’s Food Standards Agency releases food contact materials (FCM) authorization guide; no reauthorization needed for plastic or regenerated cellulose film additives authorized in the EU before January 1, 2021; application process for new substances will take up to 15 months; Northern Ireland will remain under EU rules
Carcinogenicity of ‘cocktails’ highlighted
Series of new studies finds mixtures of everyday non-carcinogenic chemicals to be of concern for causing cancer; individual chemicals present at low levels; opportunity for improvement of chemical risk assessment and primary prevention of cancer
2023 FPF Workshop: Goals and policy processes for safe and sustainable FCMs
On the morning of the Food Packaging Forum’s 11th annual workshop, speakers share processes to measure sustainable food packaging while accounting for multiple concerns; three speakers share findings from developing frameworks to make packaging safer, account for tradeoffs, and reduce plastic packaging use; three speakers share how policy is developed at the United Nations and European Union
EPA puts LVE submissions for PFAS on hold
US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces new strategy for reviewing and managing low volume exemption (LVE) requests of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) before they can enter the market; puts pending and new submissions for PFAS on hold, strives for more thorough review, wants to work with companies on voluntary withdrawals
EFSA approves two food contact substances
New processing agents do not raise safety concerns for consumers, will be used in various types of plastics
Overview of the packaging regulatory landscape
McKinsey & Company reviews packaging regulations from 30 countries around the globe; finds most focus on the beginning or end of the supply chain; groups countries into four regulatory “archetypes;” report not specific to food packaging but finds beverage packaging a large sector of packaging regulations
Focus on EDC controversy
Health & Environment article outlines debate around 2012 WHO/UNEP report on EDCs; discusses value of state-of-the-science reviews and need for systematic review methods in complex research problems
EFSA prioritizes substances for setting SMLs
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) panel publishes scientific opinion prioritizing 451 substances for creation of specific migration limits (SMLs) for plastic food contact materials; the 3 identified high priority substances are salicylic acid, styrene, and vinyl laurate
Properties of rPET-containing bottles
Scientists examine effects of recycled PET (rPET) on bottles’ properties, propose generic model to calculate acceptable rPET content for different scenarios; bottles from mono-collection systems have less particle contamination, more favorable optical properties, lower accumulation of contaminants, and therefore recommended to allow higher recycled content
Study shows oral BPA intake to be of no risk for high exposures
Soup consumption did not lead to higher levels of the active form of BPA in blood of human volunteers, BPA eliminated in urine within 24 hours