European Commission publishes bisphenol restriction proposal for FCMs

European Commission proposes ban on bisphenol A in food contact with a 36-month transition period for varnishes, coatings and professional production equipment, 18 months for most everything else; monitoring of unintentional BPA in recycled paper and board proposed to be left to business operators; submit comments until March 8, 2024

Report finds harmful chemicals widespread in packaged and processed foods

Report by Consumer Reports analyzed 85 different packaged foods for bisphenols and phthalates; detects BPA and phthalates in majority of products with wide ranging concentrations; authors emphasize difficulty of assessing “safe levels”

DG Sante webinar on BPA restriction in food contact

Directorate General for Health and Food Safety (DG Sante) explains the ban of bisphenol A in food contact materials in the EU and discusses what comes next; ban will only affect “intentional use”; comes into force late 2025 or early 2026

EFSA: Dietary exposure to BPA is unsafe

European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) publishes scientific opinion on bisphenol A (BPA); tolerable daily intake reduced by a factor of 20 000; concludes that there is a health concern from current dietary BPA exposure levels for entire population

EU Court of Justice rules in favor of ECHA identifying BPA as SVHC

Trade body PlasticsEurope loses fourth legal case concerning regulations of bisphenol A (BPA); European Court of Justice supports ECHA’s classification of BPA as substance of high very high concern (SVHC)

EFSA CEP Panel updates from October 2022 to February 2023

Minutes available from recent meetings of the working groups on food contact materials (FCMs), bisphenol A (BPA), and recycling plastics, within the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA’s) Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes and Processing Aids (CEP Panel); no further meeting of the BPA working group planned; specific migration limit (SML) for styrene in FCMs upcoming

Germany submits bisphenol restriction proposal to ECHA

Germany proposes restricting bisphenol A (BPA), other bisphenols, and derivatives as additives in articles to 0.02% by weight; also to introduce release rates to prevent migration into environment or organisms; proposal now under review by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) Committee for Risk Assessment

Beyond BPA – Many bisphenols migrate from food packaging

Four studies investigate bisphenol (BP) migration from food packaging and human health effects; demonstrate wide presence of 11 bisphenols in polystyrene take-out food containers from China, Canada, and Poland; report material quality influences BPA migration from polycarbonate cups; indicate higher BPA migration from lined cans than plastic packaging into meat based on probabilistic models; find bisphenols A, F, and S induce genotoxic effects and changes in human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) expression using human blood cells

EFSA CEP Panel updates from May to September 2022

Minutes available from recent meetings of the working groups on food contact materials (FCMs), bisphenol A (BPA), recycling plastics, and phthalates within the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes and Processing Aids (CEP Panel)

Contaminants migrate from pipes into drinking water worldwide

Review summarizes the scientific knowledge on five groups of contaminants migrating from drinking water distribution systems into tap water; reports microplastics, bisphenol A (BPA), phthalates, nonylphenol (NP), per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) detected in tap water and may stem from pipes and reservoirs; finds pipe material type largely influences contaminant migration