News
The Food Packaging Forum reports on recent developments across the food packaging and health field.
September 28, 2020
Legislature for US state of New Jersey passes bill banning both plastic and paper single-use bags, polystyrene foam food containers; plastic straw use to be limited; bill will be signed by governor and enter into force 18 months later
Reading time: 2 minutes
September 25, 2020
New report by the Changing Markets Foundation investigates commitments on plastic packaging made by largest food and consumer goods companies; criticizes consistently failed promises, sees voluntary initiatives as tactics to distract from and avoid responsibility
Reading time: 1 minute
September 25, 2020
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) position statement promotes risk-based approach to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC) post-Brexit; three NGOs argue in favor of increased use of Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs) to identify EDCs
Reading time: 2 minutes
September 25, 2020
EcoWatch article presents evidence that manufacturers knew since 1970s that plastic recycling is not viable economically; recent survey finds only 1/3 of UK food product packaging locally recyclable; manufacturer singles out PET as way forward towards circular economy
Reading time: 2 minutes
September 24, 2020
Coalition requests US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to follow its own mandate to consider cumulative effects of chemicals present during safety assessments; covers chemicals directly added to food, substances migrating from food packaging, substances generally recognized as safe (GRAS); finds only 1 of 877 existing GRAS notifications adhered to requirement
Reading time: 3 minutes
September 24, 2020
Publishes second article in three-part series on hazardous chemical exposure at home; provides overview of research on toxicity of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to developing fetuses, young children; profiles US families with high PFAS concentrations in drinking water, efforts to restrict uses
Topics: PFAS, toxicity testing
Reading time: 2 minutes
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
