New York Governor Kathy Hochul proposes limiting PFAS, heavy metals, and phthalates in all packaging to 100 ppm by weight by 2024; also urges extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging; at least six other states considering packaging EPR legislation; state-owned or contracted foodservice facilities in California must now use food packaging that is reusable, recyclable, or compostable
Book about reuse
Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy initiative launches book about reuse; outlines reuse framework, identifies 6 major benefits of reuse to business and consumers, gives 69 reuse examples
EDC criteria should be science-based
Endocrine Society meets European Commissioner, highlights EDCs as public health threat and urges Commissioner to adopt science-based criteria without potency cutoffs
Harmonizing ECHA and EFSA data
EU Parliament’s Environment Committee launches working group on harmonization of safety data held by EU chemicals, food safety and medicines agencies
Final event: Hazardous chemicals in plastic packaging (HCPP) project
Food Packaging Forum to co-host event on September 12, 2019 in Gothenburg, Sweden presenting results from multi-year research project on chemicals in plastic packaging; registration open to attend in person or via live webinar
EPHA envisions policy making healthy, sustainable food the default
European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) publishes position paper on the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy; supports creating a European public health vision including One Health concept, and that analyzes the health costs of non-action; highlights ways food system, including chemicals, affects Europeans’ health; states health impacts from chemicals “insufficiently quantified”
Better protection of children from toxics needed
Opinion article in New York Times outlines children’s prenatal exposure to various toxic chemicals, discusses impact on fetal brain development and health consequences
Scientists warn over-production of chemicals altering planetary systems
Peer-reviewed study finds pollution from synthetic chemical production and plastics is now altering planetary systems vital to human survival; recommends implementing cap on chemical production and release similar to greenhouse gases
Maine publishes food contact chemicals of concern list, postpones PFAS ban
US state of Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) publishes food packaging chemicals of high concern list; mandated by state legislation and limited to 10 chemicals; DEP postpones ban on PFAS in food packaging originally meant to begin in 2022; phthalate ban went into effect January 1, 2022
Putting the EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability into action: Responding to hazardous chemicals in plastic FCMs
Third webinar within Food Packaging Forum’s Spring 2021 webinar series on challenges and opportunities for food contact materials (FCMs) within the EU’s Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (CSS); featured two expert talks on addressing hazardous substances in plastic FCMs, considering substitution and simplification