Food legislation and food safety – April 2022

Food Contact Materials (FCMs) – rules and regulations
FPF reports that the Spanish parliament has passed a law on waste (in Spanish) banning phthalates and BPA in packaging.
In a recent article, FPF gives an update on the revision of the EU recycled plastics FCM regulation.
High-pressure processing (HPP) of food is effective at destroying harmful microorganisms and poses no more food safety concerns than other treatments. These are two of the conclusions of a scientific opinion published by EFSA.
In an article that you can download after filling in your details, Smithers experts discuss how current and upcoming EU regulatory requirements bring more of a focus on non-intentionally added substances (NIAS) testing. Printing inks in particular will likely be coming under closer regulatory scrutiny, and NIAS testing will be a crucial component of this.
IBE-BVI has published a recent article (375 kB) by Koni Grob entitled "How to make the use of recycled paperboard fit for food contact? A contribution to the discussion".

Claims, marking and labelling – rules and regulations
NL: The Dutch NVWA has published a new Manual of Nutrition and Health Claims (in Dutch). Nutrition and health claims are a voluntary form of food information. Voluntary food information may never be misleading, confusing or ambiguous. Further rules have been developed for nutrition and health claims based on the EU Claims Regulation No. 1924/2006.
US: The FDA is working on updating the use of the claim “healthy” on food labelling. The FDA has also begun the process to develop a symbol that industry can voluntarily use to label food products that meet the updated “healthy” definition. In March 2022, the FDA issued a second procedural notice on the consumer research it plans to conduct on the voluntary symbol.

Consumers - claims, marking and labelling
According to a study commissioned by the Organic Trade Association, shoppers value organic attributes but lack familiarity with the USDA Organic label. When asked about labels that may compete with the USDA label, and how likely those labels were to influence purchasing decisions, labels like “all natural” were very influential, as were “raised without antibiotics,” “hormone-free” and “non-GMO”.
Young adult drinkers are more likely to perceive alcohol products as “unappealing” and “socially unacceptable” if they display prominent health warnings, according to new research by the University of Stirling.

PFAS found in food containers
To see how often PFAS are still found in food containers, Consumer Reports tested more than 100 packaging products from restaurant and grocery chains. They found PFAS in many types of packaging, from paper bags for French fries and wrappers for hamburgers to single-use paper plates.
 

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