News
The Food Packaging Forum reports on recent developments across the food packaging and health field.
October 8, 2026
Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) report presents novel analyses of PlastChem data; highlights health risks of chemicals in everyday plastic items including food-contact plastics; of chemicals assessed 92.8% identified as posing high risk with many linked to cancer, endocrine disruption, reproductive toxicity, and chronic disease; more than half are unregulated and many lack relevant toxicity and exposure data
Reading time: 3 minutes
October 7, 2026
Italian government adopts decree-law mandating compostability of certain single-use plastic packaging; decree-law in force since August 8, 2026; relies on provisions of the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) allowing Member States to permit certain packaging formats otherwise to be restricted under PPWR
Reading time: 2 minutes
September 30, 2026
Extended producer responsibility (EPR) guidelines obligate manufacturers, importers, and brand owners to finance and organize collection and recycling; rules cover rigid and flexible plastic packaging, expanded polystyrene, and single-use plastics; collection target starts at 15%, recycling at 7.5%, rising to 30% and 15%, respectively
Reading time: 3 minutes
September 28, 2026
German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) proposes tiered approach for evaluating non-intentionally added substances (NIAS) in food contact materials (FCMs) depending on migration levels; acknowledges some NIAS may remain unidentified
Reading time: 4 minutes
September 23, 2026
Food Packaging Forum (FPF) provides inputs to three public consultations on the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR); developing sustainability criteria for plastic recycling technologies, conditions for using recycled materials sourced from outside the EU, and harmonization of recycled content calculations; FPF highlights need for chemical safety, transparency, and traceability across recycling technologies, imported recycled materials, and recycled-content claims
Reading time: 4 minutes
September 22, 2026
Epidemiological study with 5318 US mother-child pairs assesses 113 chemicals from 10 classes in urinary samples during pregnancy; finds that gestational exposure to multiple phthalates, alternative plasticizers, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is associated with shorter gestational age at birth and lower birth weight relative to gestational age
Reading time: 2 minutes
September 17, 2026
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) manual provides Member States with framework for developing plastic packaging and labeling standards; initiative seeks greater regional harmonization; also releases regional guidebook on phasing out single-use plastics; other harmonization tools under development in 2026
Reading time: 3 minutes
September 15, 2026
Environmental authorities issue 155 show-cause letters to companies over potential non-compliance with extended producer responsibility (EPR) requirements; plastic packaging recovery target rises to 60% in 2026; Philippine rules allow recycling, co-processing, waste-to-energy, and other forms of diversion to count toward targets
Reading time: 2 minutes
September 14, 2026
Scientists systematically identified 15 high-throughput in vitro assays for screening chemicals and mixtures for impacts on non-communicable diseases; approach integrates key characteristics concept and adverse outcome pathways (AOP); enables a more relevant toxicological screening of chemicals than is currently required by regulations
Reading time: 3 minutes
September 7, 2026
European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) calls for stakeholder inputs on draft list of around 700 substances of concern (SoCs) in packaging to inform EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR); Food Packaging Forum (FPF) submits comments and identifies 42 additional hazardous chemicals in packaging; emphasizes importance of treating SoCs list as living document to reflect new evidence in the future
Reading time: 3 minutes
