In December 2025, the Food Packaging Forum (FPF) sent an open letter to the leadership of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), requesting a meeting and drawing attention to another technical letter FPF had addressed to EFSA scientists. The technical letter provided scientific feedback on EFSA’s recent technical report on the evidence of micro- and nanoplastic release from food contact materials (FCMs) during their normal and intended use (FPF reported).
Earlier in 2025, FPF scientists and colleagues had published a study on the same topic (FPF reported), including the FCMiNo dashboard, featuring the data on micro- and nanoplastics detected in foodstuffs that likely had originated from FCMs. Both the EFSA technical report and FPF’s peer-reviewed study reached similar conclusions, namely that micro- and nanoplastics can enter into foodstuffs from the normal and intended use of FCMs, making FCMs a plausible and likely source of human exposure to these particles. Current regulations, however, do not require the systematic assessment of micro- and nanoplastics migration from FCMs into foodstuffs, which is also a reason for the lack of reliable studies in this area.
The human health impacts of micro- and nanoplastics remain poorly understood, as has been laid out in the recently published CUSP Research Roadmap (FPF reported). Meanwhile, the European Parliament has asked EFSA to prepare a risk assessment for the health impacts of micro- and nanoplastics by the end of 2027.
Given the strong alignment between FPF’s work on micro- and nanoplastics (as well as other topics such as food contact chemicals), FPF is motivated to support EFSA’s work and therefore proposes a meeting with EFSA’s leadership to explore opportunities for future collaboration.
On January 28, 2026, EFSA sent a written response to FPF saying that the agency “is not planning to conduct further work specifically focused on microplastics in packaging in the near future” but that it has “received in December 2025 a new mandate from the European Parliament to issue a scientific opinion on the health risks posed by microplastics in food, water, and air.” As FPF is not an organization in the EU, the agency explains that is not eligible to participate within its Registered Stakeholders community. Another pathway to schedule a direct meeting with officials was not offered, and the agency recommended engagement through its “open Panel Plenary meetings, public consultations, targeted calls for data to fill data gaps, specialised sessions with industry, webinars and workshops.”
References
Food Packaging Forum (December 2025). “FPF letter to EFSA leadership on micro—and nanoplastics from food contact materials.”
Food Packaging Forum (December 2025). “FPF letter to EFSA scientists on micro—and nanoplastics from food contact materials.”
EFSA (January 2026). “EFSA reply to FPF on the technical report: Literature review on micro- and nanoplastic release from food contact materials during their use.”
