Topics
regulation
December 18, 2020
EU Commission’s DG SANTE publishes Inception Impact Assessment as roadmap for revision of EU regulations on food contact materials; outlines eight main “issues” identified during ongoing evaluation, possible policy options to be considered by planned Impact Assessment; commenting period open until January 29, 2021
Reading time: 14 minutes
December 17, 2020
Swiss government revises list of allowed substances for food contact material (FCM) inks, adds 53 substances; allows only chemicals not in direct contact with food and if no migration possible; effective from December 1, 2020
Topics: printing inks, regulation
Reading time: 1 minute
December 7, 2020
Smithers Pira’s annual conference on plastics and paper in contact with foodstuffs informs about the latest activities of the European Commission
Reading time: 4 minutes
November 30, 2020
Researchers led by the Food Packaging Forum (FPF) publish new database identifying over 12,200 distinct chemicals that could be used in manufacture of food contact materials and articles; 29% lacking openly accessible toxicity data; 608 identified as most hazardous, prioritized for substitution; published study and database freely accessible
Topics: regulation, toxicity testing
Reading time: 2 minutes
November 16, 2020
European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) seeks information on manufacture, use, exposure, environmental release of chlorinated alkanes to inform restriction proposal; comments accepted until December 15, 2020
Reading time: 1 minute
November 12, 2020
President-elect’s environmental justice plan specifically targets ‘frontline’ communities affected most by chemical pollution, set to recognize per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as hazardous under US law; critics concerned over appointment of transition team member with history of defending PFAS manufacturers
Topics: PFAS, regulation
Reading time: 2 minutes
November 4, 2020
EU body publishes conclusions on Farm to Fork Strategy; calls for developing harmonized rules for additional food contact material (FCM) types and an EU-wide requirement for declarations of compliance for all materials
Topics: European Council, regulation
Reading time: 1 minute
November 4, 2020
Regulatory consultancy Smithers publishes recorded excerpt of presentation on recent and planned revisions to EU food contact material regulations
Topics: regulation
Reading time: 0 minutes
November 2, 2020
China’s National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment opens public consultation on three new substances for use in manufacture of food contact materials (FCMs), expanding the scope of use for three additives
Topics: china, regulation
Reading time: 1 minute
October 29, 2020
8th annual Food Packaging Forum workshop focuses on linking policy-making with scientific research to improve the safety of food contact materials; video recordings, presentation slides, and summary articles now available online
Topics: bioplastics, cadmium, cancer, EFSA, exposure, glass, hazard assessment, lead, life cycle assessment, regulation
Reading time: 2 minutes
