News
The Food Packaging Forum reports on recent developments across the food packaging and health field.
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
December 16, 2020
Council of Europe (CoE) releases resolution on safety and quality of food contact materials (FCMs); calls for harmonization of quality requirements and test procedures for chemicals in FCMs based on technical guides; recommends to implement measures reducing health risks from exposures
Topics: FCM
Reading time: 1 minute
December 16, 2020
Guide developed by Endocrine Society and International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) informs public interest organizations and policy-makers about presence of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in plastics; explains impacts of EDCs on human health, considers economic dimension
Reading time: 2 minutes
December 15, 2020
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
Reading time: 3 minutes
December 14, 2020
The European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU) publishes survey on biomonitoring and chemical exposure; available in 20 languages; open until December 31, 2020
Topics: biomonitoring
Reading time: 0 minutes
December 14, 2020
Rethink Plastic Alliance reviewing four commonly cited life cycle assessments (LCAs) on chemical recycling; report identifies undisclosed data, flawed assumptions, questionable accounting methods; suggests LCAs should not be used for public communication or as the basis for political decision making or investment decisions, should be improved to be “more independent,” “transparent,” “comprehensive”
Topics: chemical recycling, LCA
Reading time: 3 minutes
December 11, 2020
Amazon announces ban on 17 chemicals in food packaging; includes per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), phthalates, bisphenol A (BPA), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene (PS), expanded polystyrene (EPS); restricted substance list (RSL) applies to Amazon Go, Amazon Go Grocery, Amazon Fresh, and Fresh grocery delivery
Reading time: 2 minutes
