In a peer-reviewed study published on September 1, 2026, scientists from the Food Packaging Forum propose a practical approach to better protect consumers from harmful chemicals in food packaging and other food contact articles. Published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, the researchers present an approach to group food contact chemicals that could help regulators and manufacturers more efficiently identify and manage potentially hazardous substances.
More than 15,000 chemicals can be used to manufacture or be present in food contact articles such as food packaging and kitchenware. However, current regulatory systems in Europe and North America assess these chemicals individually, an approach that has been shown to be both inefficient and inadequate at protecting human and environmental health (FPF reported).
Previous research finds that 87% of these chemicals lack sufficient safety data to evaluate their potential health impacts. As a result, large gaps remain in the evidence base needed to adequately protect the public.
Major data gaps
The authors report that 1,222 priority food contact chemicals have been identified as hazardous to human health. At the same time, more than 13,000 other chemicals have little or no publicly available data to determine whether they are safe for consumers (FPF reported).
To address this imbalance, the researchers developed a method that groups chemicals based on structural similarity. Because chemicals with similar structures often exhibit similar hazard properties, grouping can help flag substances that may pose comparable risks even in the absence of complete hazard data.
Using this approach, the study identifies 38 priority chemical groups that contain a high number of known hazardous substances. These include well-known classes such as ortho-phthalates, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), organophosphates, isocyanates, and primary aromatic amines.
Addressing regrettable substitution
In total, 4,222 food contact chemicals fall within these 38 priority groups. This indicates that many substances currently on the market are structurally similar to known hazardous chemicals and could therefore act as “regrettable substitutes” if used as replacements.
“Replacing known hazardous chemicals with very similar but insufficiently tested alternatives is not solving the problem,” said Helene Wiesinger, lead author of the study. She noted that the grouping method enables rapid identification of chemicals of concern, allowing policymakers and industry actors to take more informed action.
Jane Muncke, also a co-author, emphasized that the current one-by-one regulatory approach is inadequate given the scale of the data gaps. “Today’s regulatory approaches in Europe and North America look at each chemical individually, but this is inefficient and does not sufficiently protect consumers. We are proposing an evidence-based grouping approach decision makers can already use now until the proper testing methods and testing data become available.”
New grouping tool to support implementation
Alongside the study, the researchers developed practical tools to help stakeholders benefit from the grouping approach. These include an evidence-based priority list of known hazardous food contact chemicals (FCCprio List) and an interactive application (FCCgroup) that allows users to screen their own sets of chemicals and identify any relevant priority groups.
According to co-author Albert Anguera Sempere, the new FCCgroup tool is designed to make it “easy and quick for anyone to screen a set of chemicals and find out which might be hazardous and an avoidable threat to consumer health. This can especially help companies stay ahead of future legal restrictions, avoid litigation, and better protect their customers.”
The study highlights the need for updating current regulatory approaches (including in the EU and US) to better reflect current scientific understanding and the scale of chemicals used in food contact materials. By shifting from substance-by-substance assessments to group-based prioritization, decisionmakers could act more efficiently despite incomplete and missing data.
References
Wiesinger, H., Parkinson, L. V., Geueke, B., Anguera Sempere, A., Boucher, J., Cabane, E., Scheringer, M, Muncke, M. (2026). “Prioritizing and Grouping Food Contact Chemicals – From chaos to clarity.” Environmental Science & Technology, DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.5c15186; online: September 1, 2026
Food Packaging Forum Foundation. “FCCgroup.” September 1, 2026
