US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejects two citizen petitions from 2016 asking it to remove 28 phthalates from food contact use for safety reasons; grants industry petition to remove 23 phthalates due to abandonment; FDA issues request for information on use and safety information of remaining phthalates; comments accepted until July 19, 2022
New test methods for EDCs needed
JRC expert survey identifies gaps in test methods for evaluating endocrine disruptors; new methods for thyroid, metabolic, immune disorders, as well as hormone-related cancers seen as priority
Using ToxCast data to assess food chemicals
Scientists explore the utility of-throughput screening data for hazard assessment and toxicological read-across of food-relevant chemicals; observe some biological targets to lack validated toxicity associations; demonstrate application in identifying out-of-domain compounds
Studies report on oligomer migration from food packaging
Scientists perform migration experiments for oligomer analysis; one study detects eight chemicals including six non-intentionally added oligomers to migrate from multilayer biodegradable teacups; second study reports on oligomer migration from polycarbonate tableware as ‘hidden source’ of bisphenol A (BPA)
Review of NIAS analytics in paper FCMs
Scientists review sources of non-intentionally added substances in paper and board food contact materials, discuss migration studies, analytical approaches, research needs
Webinar on key characteristics of hazardous chemicals
Food Packaging Forum holds webinar with presentation from Martyn Smith on the identification of key characteristics to support chemical evaluation; introduces concept and recent key publications; recording now available to watch
EFSA considers 2 new substances safe for use in FCM
EFSA publishes scientific opinions on perfluorinated processing aid and monomer for can coating
US FDA adds 11 substances to food contact inventory
US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) adds 11 new entries to its Inventory of Effective Food Contact Substance Notifications (FCNs) since February 2022
US EPA publishes final toxicity assessment for GenX chemicals
Sets maximum daily intake limit of 3 ng/kg body weight/day for hexafluoropropylene oxide (HFPO) dimer acid and its ammonium salt; final value is much lower than first suggested in earlier 2018 draft assessment, also lower than set reference dose for the hazardous chemical PFOA it was developed to safely replace
Study finds metabolism- and endocrine-disrupting chemicals present in plastic food packaging can migrate
A recent study explores the diversity of chemicals migrating from food contact articles into food simulants; 73% of extractable chemicals also migrated to food simulants; only 2% could be matched to currently known plastic chemicals; all migrates activated nuclear receptors, may disrupt metabolism or the endocrine system; migrates from PUR, PVC and LDPE contained more chemicals than other tested polymers and were more toxic