News
The Food Packaging Forum reports on recent developments across the food packaging and health field.
February 23, 2022
Minderoo Foundation researchers publish protocol for systematic review of human in vivo studies related to exposure from chemicals in plastics
Topics: human health, plastics
Reading time: 1 minute
February 22, 2022
Poll by Ipsos finds 75% of people want single-use plastics banned as soon as possible; 85% want producers and retailers held responsible for plastic packaging at end-of-life; survey included 20,000 people from 28 countries
Topics: plastics
Reading time: 0 minutes
February 22, 2022
International Pollution Elimination Network (IPEN) finds 60% of sampled “BPA-free” plastic bottles and children’s cups from 8 countries contain bisphenol A (BPA); test 98 containers (23 “BPA-free”) from local markets in Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania; Sri Lanka’s Environment Ministry says it will investigate
Reading time: 2 minutes
February 21, 2022
Scientific study reports that gut passages change polyethylene terephthalate (PET) microplastics morphology and alter human microbial colonic community composition; another study finds polyethylene (PE) microplastics to accumulate in the brain and induce autism spectrum disorder-like symptoms using a mouse model
Reading time: 4 minutes
February 18, 2022
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reports replacements for long-chain PFAS in paper and board food packaging have little or no available hazard information; examines 58 long-chain PFAS replacements: 10 have been formally reviewed by governmental authorities, 26 by industry, 18 have no hazard assessments; Environmental Health News reports US states to consider over 200 PFAS bills in 2022
Reading time: 2 minutes
February 17, 2022
More than 110,000 UK citizens sign petition asking government to create UK version of EU’s Single Use Plastics Directive and effectively ban single use plastics; UK was included in the EU directive prior to Brexit
Reading time: 0 minutes
February 16, 2022
McKinsey & Company reviews packaging regulations from 30 countries around the globe; finds most focus on the beginning or end of the supply chain; groups countries into four regulatory “archetypes;” report not specific to food packaging but finds beverage packaging a large sector of packaging regulations
Reading time: 2 minutes
February 16, 2022
Systematic literature review identifies eight studies analyzing styrene levels in food; reports average level of 91.53 µg styrene/kg food; highlights knowledge gaps on other foodstuff besides dairy products
Reading time: 1 minute
February 15, 2022
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) publishes principles for chemical recycling to avoid harming human health or goals for circular economy; should not compete with mechanical recycling, need transparency about resource consumption; prioritize reduction, reuse over recycling; WWF and Alfred Wegener Institute report on plastics’ impacts on oceans; plastic contamination is permanent; at least 2144 species affected, 99.8% of seabird species will eat plastics by 2050
Reading time: 3 minutes
February 15, 2022
At the One Ocean Summit on February 10, the United States and France delivered a joint statement supporting a global plastics treaty; agree treaty should address whole lifecycle of plastics and include binding commitments
Reading time: 0 minutes
