European Food Safety Authority requests technical and toxicological information on two amines approved as additives in plastic food contact materials (FCMs) to review and potentially update initial assessments; declaration of intent to submit information required by January 20, 2020
EU human biomonitoring initiative
EU initiative HBM4EU aims to coordinate and advance human biomonitoring in Europe; launch event on December 8, 2016 in Brussels
Investment in fossil-based single-use plastics continues to grow
Minderoo Foundation publishes second Plastic Waste Makers Index; highlights top 20 companies responsible for producing the polymers to make single-use plastics; finds virgin plastic production increased 15 times more than recycled in two years; 1kg more single-use plastic produced per person on the planet; cradle-to-grave greenhouse gas emissions from single-use plastics in 2021 roughly equivalent to that of the UK
Washington state publishes draft PFAS action plan
Department of Ecology (DoE) for US state of Washington outlines recommendations to reduce impacts of PFAS on public and environmental health; focuses on drinking water, environmental concentrations, waste streams, consumer products; open for public comment until December 7, 2020
US lawmakers introduce new bill to ban PFAS in food packaging
Keep Food Containers Safe from PFAS act would disallow the sale of any food packaging intentionally containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) beginning on January 1, 2024; this most recent attempt by US lawmakers to address PFAS on a national level would now need to be approved by both the US House and Senate chambers
Studies present new generic and specific modeling approaches for FCCs migration
Scientists develop nonlinear model for predicting food contact chemical (FCC) migration and apply it to FCCs of high toxicological concern; emphasize usefulness of their model to speed up migration assessment of FCCs; different group of scientists proposes an innovative modeling approach to assess release of a specific additives and elements from plastic food packaging and steel processing tools
Food Contact training: ‘An Introduction to Food Contact Regulations’
100 substances in CoRAP for 2019-2021
ECHA publishes list of 96 substances planned to be evaluated by EU Member States in 2019-2021 under the Community Rolling Action Plan (CoRAP)
Consumer attitudes towards nanotechnologies
New study investigates factors determining consumer attitudes towards nanotechnologies used for food
Costa Rica to ban single-use plastics
Costa Rican government commits to eliminating single-use plastic items by 2021; intends to promote biodegradable, water-soluble, and renewable materials