News
The Food Packaging Forum reports on recent developments across the food packaging and health field.
September 24, 2020
European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) completes pilot enforcement project focused on restricted substances cadmium, lead, nickel; finds 23% of inspected products not compliant with EU chemicals regulations
Topics: enforcement, REACH
Reading time: 1 minute
September 23, 2020
Identifies examples of mostly empty packaged food products filled with air in French supermarkets; finds excess packaging not intended to protect food, only serves to convey increased product size; public petition launched to call on specific brands to improve
Topics: retailers
Reading time: 1 minute
September 23, 2020
US retailer reports 1% increase in footprint across its product assortment from 2017 to 2018; aims to achieve 10% reduction by 2022; plans to finish analysis and publish most recent data later this year
Topics: retailers, substitution
Reading time: 1 minute
September 22, 2020
Interview with Bjorn Hansen discusses efficiency of data sharing across chemical assessments, incompleteness of REACH registration dossiers, identification of additional SVHCs, and the upcoming EU chemicals strategy
Reading time: 3 minutes
September 21, 2020
German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) publishes position statement on specific migration limits for lead, cadmium, and cobalt from ceramic food contact materials; derives recommended limits up to 400 times lower than values allowed by current directive
Reading time: 1 minute
September 18, 2020
Scientists investigate in vitro toxicity of extracts from bioplastics and plant-based food contact articles; find strongest toxicity induced by cellulose- and starch-based products; emphasize similar toxicity profiles among bio-based, biodegradable, and conventional plastics
Reading time: 3 minutes
September 18, 2020
Organization reviews current chemical recycling projects, finds less than half are plastic-to-plastic recycling, none likely to become viable; criticizes labeling waste- and plastic-to-fuel technologies as ‘chemical recycling’, describes it as misleading for governments, investors and the public
Topics: chemical recycling
Reading time: 1 minute
September 17, 2020
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) publishes final version of its opinion on risk to human health from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in food; sets group tolerable weekly intake limit of 4.4 ng/kg body weight for four most commonly measured PFAS in humans
Topics: PFAS, risk assessment
Reading time: 1 minute
September 17, 2020
Assessment performed by Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) finds total human exposure through food, consumer products, and soil far below weekly health guidance value
Topics: aluminum, risk assessment
Reading time: 1 minute
September 16, 2020
Environmental law organization finds EU laws on endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) lag behind current science, proposes specific policy and process changes to address gaps; recommends implementing REACH restrictions on all identified EDCs, automatic regulatory consequences to reduce all sources of exposure
Topics: endocrine disruptor
Reading time: 1 minute
