News
The Food Packaging Forum reports on recent developments across the food packaging and health field.
January 11, 2024
Scientists calculate US health care costs caused by a well-studied subset of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in plastics; estimate exposure cost $250 billion in 2018, equivalent to 1.22% of Gross Domestic Product; recommend addressing chemicals of concern in global plastics treaty to reduce disease burden and costs
Reading time: 3 minutes
January 9, 2024
European Commission adopts legislative proposals working toward ‘one substance, one assessment’ in the EU; plan to create Europe-wide chemicals data platform; allow agencies to commission chemical testing and monitoring, set up an early warning system for chemical risks, and establish a monitoring framework; two proposals restructure responsibilities among EU agencies
Reading time: 2 minutes
January 9, 2024
Two studies assess antimony presence and migration from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles sold in Brazil and Turkey; detect antimony in almost all samples and in levels below Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI); find migration to increase with temperature, storage time, and beverage pH
Reading time: 3 minutes
January 8, 2024
Maintains criteria that all packaging must be recyclable; introduces requirement for separate waste collection; tasks Commission with preparing a report on substances of concern and their impact on recycling, reuse, and chemical safety
Reading time: 2 minutes
January 4, 2024
Scientists assessed polyethylene terephthalate (PET) trays with different amounts of recycled content and produced by two different extrusion processes; find cyclic oligomer migration increases with recycled content amount, differs between the two processes; nontargeted screening identifies intentional and non-intentional substances, including marker compounds for recycled PET
Reading time: 3 minutes
January 2, 2024
Scientists detect two per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in plastic food storage bags; study assesses PFAS in 119 single-use food packaging and tableware samples from around the world and detectes PFAS in 54%; two reviews raise awareness of PFAS impact on human liver health and safety issues connected with the PFAS substitutes - polyfluoroalkyl phosphate esters (PAPs); scientist calls for more research to assess combined environmental effect of microplastics and PFAS
Reading time: 7 minutes
December 7, 2023
Three US federal agencies publish draft strategy on food loss and waste prevention; goal to reduce loss and waste by 50% by 2030; includes concerns around physical and chemical contamination of organic waste from packaging; planned investments in “innovative” materials; draft strategy open for comment through January 4, 2024
Topics: food waste, USA
Reading time: 2 minutes
December 6, 2023
Over fifty experts researching the health effects of chemical exposures sign letter to German authorities expressing concerns about recent actions concerning bisphenol regulation in Europe; encourage resubmission of bisphenol restriction proposal and for the country to once again take the lead on regulatory action regarding endocrine disrupting chemicals in Europe
Reading time: 2 minutes
December 5, 2023
Daily Mail reports on environmental campaigners call to action for more sustainable beverage packaging; based on Zero Waste Europe report; says beverage packaging sector will not reach climate targets without deposit return schemes
Reading time: 2 minutes
November 29, 2023
Meeting in Nairobi ends with no consensus on intersessional work needed before next meeting; Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty represented by 37 scientists, including team members from the Food Packaging Forum; expanded and revised version of Zero Draft based on member state inputs to be published by December 31, 2023; next round of negotiations to take place in Ottawa, Canada on April 21 – 30, 2024
Reading time: 4 minutes
