Food legislation and food safety – November 2023

Food Contact Materials (FCMs) – rules and regulations
China: Keller and Heckman reports that the NHC has published 85 National Food Safety Standards for food, food additives, food-related products, and various testing methods. The article gives a brief summary of the key FCM standards. Keller and Heckman also reports that the CFSA is soliciting comments on a resin for use in food contact plastics.
EU: EFSA has published a report (698 kB) describing work to establish principles and procedures that could be applicable to the safety assessment of the use of mixtures of natural origin in the manufacture of FCMs.
NL: The Dutch Food Safety Authority (NVWA) has published a temporary enforcement policy (in Dutch) concerning MOAH in food. The policy comes into force on 1 January 2024.
Ukraine: SGS reports that the government has initiated a consultation on a draft order on food contact plastics. If approved, the provisions will become effective on 19 November 2025.
US: The No Toxics in Food Packaging Act of 2023 (H.R.6105) has been introduced in the U.S. House. The act bans BPA, PFAS, ortho-phthalates, styrene, and antimony trioxide from being used in FCMs.
Keller and Heckman reports that the FDA has added two new entries to its Inventory of Effective Food Contact Substances (FCS) Notifications.
Maine: SGS reports that the government has initiated a consultation over a revised proposal to prohibit nine types of paper and board food packaging that contain intentionally added PFAS.
In a recent article, FPF gives an update of the US state policies on PFAS in FCMs.

Claims, marking and labelling
EU: The EP has published a briefing (699 kB) on the revision of four of the so called “Breakfast Directives", a set of Directives that lay down common rules on the composition, sales name, labelling and presentation of certain foodstuffs.
France: A draft regulation on the use of the Nutri-Score logo has been sent to the EC. The government also sent draft legislation to the EC on consumer information about the origin of cocoa in cocoa and chocolate products.
NL: Utrecht University research shows that 90% of Dutch consumers are familiar with the Nutri-Score and about 70% are in favour of implementation. From 2024, the score on food products will be introduced in the Netherlands.

Research on FCMs
A new project led by TNO/Brightlands Materials Center, aims to recycle plastic food packaging into new food packaging that consists out of at least 35% recyclate. The participating companies will collect plastic food packaging from the kitchen and rejected reusable cups from McDonald’s for this.
According to FPF, more and more scientific articles report the migration of oligomers from FCMs. In an article (3.86 MB) published in Environment & Health, Fudan University researchers call for more research because for most oligomers there is limited understanding of their structures and functional properties.
In an article (454 kB) published in the Jornal de Pediatria, HCPA researchers evaluate food contamination by endocrine disruptors (EDCs) present in food packaging. In a review article (18.88 MB) published in Foods, researchers from the University of South Africa discuss the migration of plastic monomers from food packaging into food and the associated implications for health. Some monomers are EDCs.
 

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