News
The Food Packaging Forum reports on recent developments across the food packaging and health field.
January 4, 2021
Developmental endpoint added again to reproductive toxicity listing of bisphenol A (BPA) under California’s Proposition 65; ends eight-year long legal dispute between American Chemistry Council (ACC) and Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA)
Topics: bisphenol A, BPA
Reading time: 1 minute
January 4, 2021
European Association for the Coordination of Consumer Representation in Standardization (ANEC) position paper criticizes industry self-control in food contact material (FCM) legislation; recommends set of guiding principles; includes significantly reducing number of approved substances and materials, requiring pre-market authorization for all substances in final materials including non-intentionally added
Topics: European Commission, regulation
Reading time: 2 minutes
December 18, 2020
EU Commission’s DG SANTE publishes Inception Impact Assessment as roadmap for revision of EU regulations on food contact materials; outlines eight main “issues” identified during ongoing evaluation, possible policy options to be considered by planned Impact Assessment; commenting period open until January 29, 2021
Reading time: 14 minutes
December 18, 2020
European Chemicals Agency’s Risk Assessment Committee (ECHA RAC) agrees on classifications of bisphenol S as category 1b reproductive toxicant, melamine as category 2 carcinogen
Reading time: 2 minutes
December 17, 2020
Swiss government revises list of allowed substances for food contact material (FCM) inks, adds 53 substances; allows only chemicals not in direct contact with food and if no migration possible; effective from December 1, 2020
Topics: printing inks, regulation
Reading time: 1 minute
December 17, 2020
Formal petition requests revision of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lead standards, calls for banning lead in all FCMs; argues simple measures could significantly decrease lead level exposure from food
Topics: lead
Reading time: 2 minutes
December 17, 2020
Industry association PlasticsEurope loses third court case challenging legal classification of bisphenol A (BPA) as substance of very high concern (SVHC); EU General Court supports European Chemicals Agency’s recognition of BPA’s endocrine disrupting effects on wildlife
Reading time: 1 minute
December 17, 2020
European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) draft opinion reviews literature on assessment of non-monotonic dose responses (NMDRs), finds lack of standards for statistical approaches; suggests stepwise approach for ambiguous ‘apparent’ NMDRs; approach applied in two case studies finds no NMDR for bisphenol A (BPA) but does for di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP); open for comments until February 4, 2021
Reading time: 2 minutes
December 16, 2020
Collaboration led by RCD Packaging Innovation brings together 80 representatives from flexible film packaging supply chain; focuses on addressing issues needed to achieve ‘waste-free future’; identifies migration of toxic chemicals as priority area with significant efforts still needed
Reading time: 1 minute
December 16, 2020
Industry association’s annual report provides data on Europe’s 2019 demand for plastic and end-of-life management; presents consumption by country, resin type; identifies packaging as greatest demand sector for plastics; finds average European plastics recycling collection rate of 42%
Reading time: 1 minute
