Single-Use Material Decelerator (SUM’D) releases new version of food packaging assessment tool UP Scorecard; featuring expanded regionalization capabilities including Europe, functionality to add new customized containers, a simplified scoring system, and a streamlined presentation of results
Biocides in FCMs: legal follow-ups needed
Authorization of biocides discussed at the Biocides Symposium ’15 in Ljubljana, Slovenia
Chemical migration from paper and board into dry foods
New study investigates migration from paper and board into fruits and vegetables, food simulant overestimates migration, washing, peeling and cooking largely ineffective at removing contaminants
Quantifying migration of whitening agents from plastics
EU reference laboratory for FCMs develops analytical method for quantification of fluorescent whitening agents migrating from plastic beverage cups
Printing ink exposure from FCM significantly underestimated
New study investigates occurrence of photoinitiators in carton board packaging, finds benzophenone present in 50% of samples, surface to mass ratio 6 times higher than in EU legislation
Amazon’s safer chemicals policy
Amazon is the first primarily e-commerce retailer to publish chemicals policy and restricted substances list
Circular economy stakeholder conference
European Commission and European Economic and Social Committee host 2019 conference on circular economy, focus on success stories and new challenges
Phthalates found in diverse array of foods, from coffee to baby formula
Systematic review summarizes phthalate occurrence in different foods, discusses sources, and potential risk; researchers assess how coffee packaging and brewing method affects bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) and di-butyl phthalate (DBP) levels in coffee; perform targeted analysis of 245 plastic additives in baby foods; report widespread contamination including a median of 46.1 ng phthalate esters per gram baby food
BPA and childhood obesity
New study finds association between prenatal BPA exposure and body fat outcomes in New York City children
Forums on sustainability of plastics
Plasticity Forums to discuss sustainable end-of-life solutions for plastics on April 21 and May 9, 2017 in Texas and California, respectively; registration available online