Position supports recasting EU Drinking Water Directive to consider safety of materials that come into contact with drinking water; will specify minimum hygiene requirements, create positive lists of material starting substances, compositions, and chemical constituents
Chemical migration from plastic containers
Danish consumer council tests plastic lunch boxes and food containers; no chemicals of concern detected; some containers showed considerable overall chemical migration into warm fatty foods
Spotlight on compliance of plastic resins
Study by regulatory enforcement officers highlights insufficient compliance work by polyolefin producers on migrating substances from plastics intended for food contact
Study shows plausibility of PFAS from fluorinated HDPE containers contaminating food
Researchers from the University of Notre Dame detect PFAS & PFCAs in food stored in fluorinated high-density polyethylene (HDPE) containers for one week; authors recommend regulations on food contact uses
European court annuls previous decision to identify TiO2 as carcinogenic
Court of Justice of the European Union reverses earlier court ruling identifying titanium dioxide (TiO2) as a carcinogen via inhalation; finds Risk Assessment Committee did not consider all necessary factors and criteria for having intrinsic hazard not met; legal institutions now responsible for addressing changes needed to adapt to court’s decision
Beverage container associations urge support for deposit programs
Aluminum, glass, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) packaging manufacturer associations ask US state governments to clearly communicate container return process to consumers, stress importance of recycling returned containers to meet currently high packaging demand during COVID-19 pandemic
Toxicity assessment of sol-gel coatings
Scientists assess sol-gel coatings on polycarbonate plastics; migration found below the overall migration limit; no genotoxicity or estrogenicity in vitro
European Commission proposes Green Claims Directive
European Commission seeks to combat ‘green washing’; proposal would regulate environmental claims and promote transparent communication to consumers; product claims will need to be independently verified, will launch new database of trustworthy labels
Proceedings of EFSA conference 2018
Proceedings of European Food Safety Authority’s 3rd scientific conference held in September 2018 now published
Global Food Contact opening keynote highlights EC FCM updates
2021 Smithers Pira conference covers global developments in food contact regulations and materials; opening keynote by Jonathan Briggs details latest developments on the European Commission’s (EC) update on food contact material (FCM) legislation; release of the EC’s final impact assessment pushed back to 2023, but staff working document on FCMs planned for the end of 2021