US Government Accountability Office evaluates EPA’s chemical evaluation program
Japan publishes guidelines on chemical management for circular economy
Japan’s Joint Article Management Promotion-consortium gives guidelines on ensuring safe recycled materials; provides considerations for recycling process for various materials to avoid chemical contamination; urges for transparency about substances used in the supply chain
Online tool to protect children from chemical exposures
Swedish Chemicals Agency publishes website with information and advice on children’s everyday exposure to chemicals, includes section on food and food contact materials
FCCmigex dashboard now has in-depth plastics page
Food Packaging Forum publishes interactive tool dedicated to exploring plastic food contact chemical research; released as an update of the Database on Migrating and Extractable Food Contact Chemicals (FCCmigex) dashboard; users can filter data by 12 polymer types, includes 1975 chemicals detected in plastics
EFSA working group on FCMs: 29th meeting
Updated meeting minutes of EFSA’s CEF Panel working group on food contact materials now available online
EFSA: 6th FIP network meeting on FCMs
EFSA’s Food Ingredients and Packaging Scientific Network held 6th meeting on food contact materials on July 10-11, 2018, discussed ongoing activities, printing inks, paper and board FCMs
Denmark surveys hazardous substances in plastics
Danish EPA identifies 132 problematic substances or substance groups in plastic products
OECD publishes new nanomaterial documents
New OECD summary on nano-silver as well as new test guidelines on nanomaterial dispersion stability, subacute and subchronic inhalation toxicity now available
New Zealand symposium on food safety
First session of the New Zealand Food Safety Science & Research Centre annual symposium is a webinar on chemical contaminants in food; presentation on New Zealand-wide project to study impacts of microplastics on human health and natural resources; new project developing guidelines to help food industry navigate the use of food packaging containing recycled material
New EU Directive targets sustainability labels and greenwashing buzzwords
EU Parliamentarians overwhelmingly approve new directive to limit sustainability certifications and claims such as “eco friendly”, “biodegradable”, and “natural” without proof; offsets to earn environmental claims will also no longer be allowed