News
The Food Packaging Forum reports on recent developments across the food packaging and health field.
September 1, 2021
Integrative review analyzes recent scientific advances in food and environmental safety; scientometric analysis reveals increasing multidisciplinary interest between 2001 and 2020; finds contaminants and environmentally friendly food packaging as emerging research topics in the field of food safety
Reading time: 3 minutes
September 1, 2021
Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare publishes revised version of positive list for food contact materials (FCMs); applies to utensils, containers, and packaging made of synthetic resins; 83 substances added to the list of plastic polymers, 192 to coatings, 29 to monomers, and 121 to additives
Reading time: 1 minute
August 31, 2021
Sustainable Packaging Coalition publishes updated report on the availability of residential recycling in the United States for 32 types of packaging materials; steel food cans, aluminum beverage cans, corrugated cardboard, paperboard, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bottles accepted by > 84% of facilities surveyed; foil and rigid polystyrene (PS) had fewest recycling options; access to recycling declined since 2016
Reading time: 2 minutes
August 30, 2021
California expected to pass bill banning PFAS in food packaging; Michigan legislators reintroduce bill to ban PFAS, phthalates, and bisphenols in food packaging; Massachusetts’ Toxics Use Reduction Act program votes for expanding reporting requirements
Reading time: 2 minutes
August 26, 2021
Article evaluates pros, cons, and improvement potential of biobased polymers looking at production, end-of-life, environmental, and toxicological impacts; regards bioplastics as promising alternative but not without issues; emphasizes importance of considering economic, social, environmental, and legislative issues when scaling up biobased plastics
Topics: bioplastics, biopolymer
Reading time: 3 minutes
August 25, 2021
The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) comments on the EU’s Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (CSS); criticizes the alleged exclusion of scientific risk assessment experts in the development and implementation of the CSS; comments supported by others with demonstrated ties to chemical industry.
Reading time: 2 minutes
August 24, 2021
China’s National Center for Food Safety and Risk Assessment seeks comments on expanded uses of 4 food contact chemicals (FCCs) and 7 new FCCs; two substances are listed in the Food Packaging Forum’s food contact chemicals database as substances of potential concern; comments accepted until September 10, 2021
Topics: china, regulation
Reading time: 1 minute
August 24, 2021
India officially adopts Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2021; bans import, manufacture, and sale of plastic candy and ice cream sticks, plates, cups, cutlery, trays, and certain wrapping films after July 1, 2022
Topics: India, plastic ban
Reading time: 1 minute
August 23, 2021
Recycling Today reports on the challenges of supplying food-grade recycled plastics even as commitments increase; European Commission registers Citizens’ Initiative to create plastic bottle deposit and extended producer responsibility system in EU; World Wildlife Fund Germany investigates packaging system to find ways to increase circularity, encourages reuse over recycling
Reading time: 2 minutes
August 18, 2021
Scientific study investigates in vitro toxicity and composition of chemical mixtures migrating from everyday plastic products made of eight polymer types; demonstrates that thousands of chemicals can leach under realistic use conditions, including compounds toxic in vitro that contribute to human exposure; emphasizes the importance to rethink and redesign plastics to achieve safe materials
Reading time: 3 minutes
