EU Commission’s DG SANTE publishes Inception Impact Assessment as roadmap for revision of EU regulations on food contact materials; outlines eight main “issues” identified during ongoing evaluation, possible policy options to be considered by planned Impact Assessment; commenting period open until January 29, 2021
OECD forum on cost-effective management systems for chemicals
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) event on November 3-4, 2020 to focus on exchanging experiences and knowledge on systems to manage industrial and consumer chemicals; registration open
First comprehensive overview of market chemicals
Published study analyzes 22 chemical inventories across 19 countries and regions, finds over 350,000 chemicals and mixtures registered globally, three times more than earlier reported; highlights significant data gaps due to ambiguously described chemicals and confidential business information; calls for collaboration to responsibly manage chemicals
FDA sued over perchlorate petition rejection
Six U.S. NGOs file lawsuit against U.S. Food and Drug Administration over denial of earlier petition to ban perchlorate in FCMs; accuse FDA of ‘not protecting our health,’ call for petition reassessment
FPF Workshop 2019: FPF year in review
Thomas Backhaus reviews the Food Packaging Forum’s work in 2019; includes organization and participation in conferences and webinars, scientific projects finalized and launched
FPF Workshop 2019: Doubt is their product
David Michaels explains how ‘manufactured scientific uncertainty’ is used to delay regulatory actions on harmful products
Indian draft FCM standard for printing inks
Bureau of Indian Standards consults on revised draft standard for printing inks in food contact materials; recommends exclusion of several pigments, dyes, solvents, plasticizers and other compounds from printing ink formulations
Summary of responses to EU FCM consultation
EU Commission publishes factual summaries of public consultation and SME panel survey on FCM regulation in the EU
France bans TiO2 in food
France bans titanium dioxide in food by 2020 following report by ANSES reiterating 2017 recommendation to reduce exposures; EFSA does not see need to open reassessment at the moment
Risk evaluation of RASFF notifications
EFSA proposes methodology for evaluating risks posed by food contaminants detected in RASFF, addresses toxicological properties and dietary exposure, develops Rapid Assessment of Contaminant Exposure (RACE) tool