News
The Food Packaging Forum reports on recent developments across the food packaging and health field.
May 5, 2021
Comprehensive literature review in the journal Food Additives and Contaminants investigates substance migration into dry foods and food simulants; review analyses: foods off store shelves, foods and food simulants in experimental settings, food particle characteristics, and packaging material; finds migration commonly exceeds 50 µg/kg assumed migration rate of dry foods according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Reading time: 2 minutes
May 3, 2021
International Panel on Chemical Pollution (IPCP) publishes joint statement from scientists critiquing European Commission’s (EC) draft guidelines for polymer registration under REACH; statement asks for more inclusive criteria for polymers requiring registration (PRR), consideration of micro- and nano-plastic hazards; statement open for signatures
Reading time: 2 minutes
May 3, 2021
Reduce, Recover, Recycle (3R) Initiative and partners’ Guidelines for Corporate Plastic Stewardship aims to guide companies’ transition toward circular plastics supply chain; outlines pathways to three commitments of increasing ambition: net zero plastic leakage, 100% recycled at end-of-life, and net circular plastic; includes example case study
Reading time: 2 minutes
April 29, 2021
US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces new strategy for reviewing and managing low volume exemption (LVE) requests of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) before they can enter the market; puts pending and new submissions for PFAS on hold, strives for more thorough review, wants to work with companies on voluntary withdrawals
Reading time: 0 minutes
April 29, 2021
German Gesellschaft für Verpackungsmarktforschung finding paper composite packaging use will increase until 2025, uses 40% more material; paper composites cause more packaging waste, cause problems for recycling, replace hardly or non-recyclable or hardly recyclable plastic packaging, compete with improvement of plastic recycling; may be harmful to circular economy (in German)
Reading time: 0 minutes
April 29, 2021
US states Oklahoma and Arizona pass bills to support chemical recycling facilities; at the same time, US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers whether to include chemical recycling in national recycling calculations
Reading time: 2 minutes
April 29, 2021
Fast food chain Wendy's will eliminate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in consumer-facing packaging in the US and Canada by the end of 2021, establish restricted substances list (RSL); faster phase-out timeline than competitor McDonald's; public health advocates applaud fast-paced commitment, call on Burger King to take similar action
Reading time: 1 minute
April 28, 2021
Boston Consulting Group survey interviews 15,000 consumers across Europe, North America, South America; finds consumer environmental awareness and preference for recyclable packaging unaffected by pandemic, young consumers willing to pay more for sustainable packaging, miseducation exists about real recycling rates
Topics: food packaging, recycling
Reading time: 1 minute
April 28, 2021
Chipotle restaurants aim to phase out per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from packaging by the end of 2021, follows commitments made in early 2020; PFAS already eliminated from burrito bowls in the US, Canada, and soon Europe; company is working with suppliers to prioritize food safety in all parts of packaging production
Reading time: 0 minutes
April 28, 2021
European Commission, following its Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, tasks ECHA with defining hazard classes for revision of the classification, labeling and packaging of substances and mixtures (CLP) regulation; to include persistent, mobile, and toxic (PMT) chemicals, endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), and various classifications of toxicity
Reading time: 1 minute
