Food legislation and food safety – September 2022
Food Contact Materials (FCMs) – rules and regulations
EU: The EC has adopted new rules to enhance the safety of recycled plastics used in FCMs. Regulation (EU) 2022/15XX will enter into force in October 2022 and repeals Regulation (EC) No 282/2008. In a review article (1.12 MB) published in Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, Maastricht University researchers discuss current approaches and challenges of sample preparation procedures for the safety assessment of paper and cardboard FCMs. China: Keller and Heckman reports that the CFSA is requesting comments on two new FCMs, three new resins and expanded use for four FCMs and one resin. Malaysia: SGS reports that the government has published a guideline (in Malaysian) on Food Grade Certification application procedures for FCMs. This certification, which contains the Food Grade Certification logo, is voluntary and is valid for three years for products that meet the requirements.
Claims, marking and labelling
EU: In a press release (433 kB), the relevant authorities of seven EU countries have announced that they have adopted the update (4.33 MB) of the Nutri-Score algorithm for foods, drawn up by the scientific committee. Research (1.09 MB) published in PLOS ONE led by Göttingen University suggests that the Nutri-Score can counteract the misleading effects of sugar claims. EC’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published the results of four studies related to food information to consumers: front-of-pack nutrition labelling (2.69 MB), labelling of alcoholic beverages (2.25 MB), information through other means than on labels (3.54 MB) and origin labelling (2.04 MB). The EC will use the findings as input for a proposal to revise the EU rules on the information provided to consumers as part of the EU’s ‘Farm-to-Fork’ Strategy and Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan. Luxembourg: Currently there are no specific regulations concerning the placing on the market of pre-packages not bearing the symbol ‘℮’. The government has now sent draft legislation to the EC to fill in this legal vacuum. Singapore: The Health Promotion Board reports that as of 30 December 2022 the Ministry of Health (MOH) is introducing mandatory nutrition labels for Nutri-Grade beverages to help consumers identify beverages that are higher in sugar and saturated fat. UK: The government (244 kB) is delaying food labelling rule changes that were due to apply from 1 October 2022, until 1 January 2024. US: Labels alerting consumers that products contain ingredients from genetically engineered (GE) plants may reduce sales, at least in the short term, according to a new Penn State study. The study, published in Food Policy (abstract), analysed sales data from Vermont after a law went into effect requiring labels on GE foods.
Food Contact Materials (FCMs) – research
In a recent report (721 kB), FPF describes the application of a general scoring framework for chemical migration from packaging into food. The framework was developed within a revision of the packaging fact sheets (in German), published by Bio Suisse.
Announced via an article (2.61 MB) published in Environment International, research is underway by scientists in Switzerland, including from FPF, to collect all the known exposure and hazard information for oligomers migrating from PET FCMs.
In an article (309 kB) published in Foods, Fraunhofer researchers evaluate styrene concentrations in dairy products and the main factors influencing migration from packaging.
In an article (1.35 MB) published in Food Chemistry, University of Zaragoza researchers present a method to analyse chemical markers of MOAH contamination in food from printing inks in packaging.
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