News
The Food Packaging Forum reports on recent developments across the food packaging and health field.
May 21, 2024
Scientists develop holistic conceptual framework to determine polymers of concern; criteria go beyond intrinsic properties and take life cycle considerations into account; packaging particularly problematic regarding environmental leakage; scientists are calling for swift action on polymers of concern despite some data gaps
Reading time: 3 minutes
May 17, 2024
European Commission’s working group on food contact materials (FCMs) shares updates and timelines on revision of the FCM regulation and BPA restriction; ongoing FCM sustainability study will be completed by February 2025; BPA restriction to be sent to Parliament and Council in mid-July
Reading time: 1 minute
May 16, 2024
Unilever reduces environmental pledges and sets new timeline; new approach is meant to be more focused, long term, and systemic; receives criticism from civil society
Topics: BRID, sustainability
Reading time: 2 minutes
May 10, 2024
Recent studies explore uptake pathways of microplastics; uptake has increased in recent years; rapidly industrializing Southeast Asian countries more impacted; food packaging responsible for approx. 2.98 × 103 microplastics/person/year; higher exposure for regular consumers of bottled water, tea brewed from plastic tea bags, or ultrafiltered milk
Reading time: 3 minutes
May 2, 2024
Study explores the migration of melamine, a suspected carcinogen, and its derivatives from tableware made with melamine-formaldehyde resin or melamine combined with bamboo or wheat straw, purchased in China; 35% of bamboo tableware samples exceeded China’s specific migration limit for melamine; many melamine-based products are marketed to children
Reading time: 2 minutes
May 1, 2024
Study uses online food delivery sales data from nearly 200 Chinese cities, combined with packaging samples from 18 of those cities to model packaging waste generation and chemical exposure from waste incineration; some degradation products with higher concentrations than intentionally added parent product; over 50 tons of the targeted additives likely released into the atmosphere from Chinese waste incinerators
Reading time: 2 minutes
April 30, 2024
China’s National Health Commission publishes new standard for food contact adhesives, effective February 2025; also publishes food safety standards development plan for 2024 including three pertaining to food contact chemical migration; evaluation of food contact plastics recycling may also come this year
Reading time: 2 minutes
April 25, 2024
European Commission adopts guiding criteria for determining the 'essential use' of harmful chemicals, emphasizing that their use is justified only when necessary for health, safety, or crucial societal functions with no alternatives; essential use is not legally binding until incorporated into regulation
Reading time: 2 minutes
April 24, 2024
Surveys by Greenpeace and World Wildlife Fund investigate public opinion on plastic reduction; 82% in favor of reducing plastic production; 90% support prohibition of harmful chemicals in plastic
Topics: consumer survey, global plastics treaty
Reading time: 2 minutes
April 24, 2024
Study of PFAS concentrations in consumer products finds that US Environmental Protection Agency protocol likely does not “adequately capture PFAS embodied in consumer products”; also finds “large fraction” of surface and groundwaters exceed regulatory concentrations; “future PFAS environmental burden is likely underestimated”
Reading time: 2 minutes
