Food legislation and food safety – February 2023

Food Contact Materials (FCMs) – rules and regulations in the EU
Keller and Heckman reports that the EC has notified (86 kB) the WTO of the proposed update to Regulation (EU) No. 10/2011 (the Plastics Regulation).
EFSA has published a safety assessment of waxes for use in FCMs.
Germany: SGS reports that the BfR has revised six FCM recommendations, including paper and board materials.

Food Contact Materials (FCMs) – rules and regulations outside the EU
Brazil: SGS reports that the WTO has been informed (72 kB) of the intention to revise the FCM legislation.
China: FPF reports that the National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment is seeking comments from industry on restricting the use of three polymer coatings in FCMs for infants and children.
Thailand: Keller and Heckman reports that the WTO has been notified of draft legislation on microwavable food plastic bags for reheating (73 kB) and on plastic bags for foods (71 kB).
Ukraine: SGS reports that legislation has been issued to regulate vinyl chloride monomer in FCMs and articles containing PVC. The new law will become effective on 19 November 2025.
US: Keller and Heckman reports that the FDA has added ten new entries to its Inventory of Effective Food Contact Substances (FCS) Notifications. Three other new entries were also added, Keller and Heckman reports.

Claims, marking and labelling in the US
The USDA has published the Strengthening Organic Enforcement Final Rule to protect the organic label.
The FDA has issued a procedural notice on its plans to conduct a study entitled “Quantitative Research on Front of Package Labeling on Packaged Foods.”

Research
Aarhus University researchers studied polyamide (PA) 6 and 66 oligomers and their migration from a multilayer packaging consisting of PA on the food contact side. The research (2.2 MB) is published in Food Packaging and Shelf Life.
University of Zaragoza researchers studied the chemicals migrating from two different post-consumer rHDPE milk bottles. An article (5.61 MB) about the research is published in Food Packaging and Shelf Life.
In an article (870 kB) also published in Food Packaging and Shelf Life, DTU researchers provide an overview of the migration of PFAS from paper FCMs into food.
 

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