Food legislation and food safety – November 2021

Food Contact Materials (FCMs) – rules and regulations
China: Keller and Heckman reports that the government is requesting comments on ten FCMs. Keller and Heckman also reports that the government has published a number of draft standards (GB standards) in relation to FCMs for public comment.
EU: EFSA has launched consultations on its draft opinion on the identification and prioritisation for risk assessment of plasticisers such as phthalates used in FCMs and on its draft protocol for the exposure assessment of those substances that are prioritised. The deadline for comments is 16 December 2021.
India: FPF reports that the Plastic Waste Management Rules have been amended (1.24 MB) to allow recycled plastic in FCMs as long the standards set by the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006 are followed. The government has also approved reservation norms for the Jute Year 2021 -22 making it mandatory to package all food grains and 20% of sugar in jute bags.
Mercosur: Mercosur has recently published three resolutions that modify existing resolutions related to FCMs. You can read more in an article by Keller and Heckman.
US: FPF reports that the FDA added nine entries to its Inventory of Effective Food Contact Substances (FCS) Notifications in August and September 2021. In October 2021, five new entries were added according to Keller and Heckman.

Packaging, marking and labelling
EU: The European Parliament has adopted a resolution on the Farm to Fork Strategy. The EP recommendations include EU science-based recommendations for healthy diets, including a mandatory EU front-of-pack nutritional label.
US: The Connecticut government is warning the public about the dangers of cannabis edibles and hemp derivatives in packaging that look like well-known packaged snack foods and candy.
Health claims are sentences on the food product packages to claim the nutrition and the benefits of the nutrition. Consumers in different European contexts often have difficulties understanding health claims, leading to increased confusion about and decreased trust in the food they buy. Focusing on this problem, the University of Reading developed a toolkit for improving the communication of health claims for consumers. In November 2021, a paper (3.96 MB) about the toolkit was published.

Phthalates and PFAS in fast-food packaging
George Washington University research has found phthalates and other plasticisers in popular foods purchased at US fast-food restaurants. Phthalates and replacement plasticizers can migrate out of plastics into the food. One of the sources is the packaging used to wrap fast food meals. An article (7.24 MB) about the research is published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.
In a new study (3.16 MB) published in Trends in Food Science & Technology, Iowa State University researchers call for new and better ways to detect and mitigate the common grease-proofing food packaging chemicals PFAS.

Oligomer migration from biopolymers into food simulants
In an article (1.6 MB) published in Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, University of Zaragoza researchers compare different analytical techniques to analyse oligomer migration from biopolymers into food simulants.
 

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