Food legislation and food safety - September 2019
FCM – developments in EU regulations
On 8 August, EU Regulation 2019/1338 was published amending EU Regulation 10/2011 on plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food. Work on the next (15th) amendment is underway, according to Keller and Heckman. The EC recently published the outcomes of the public consultation on FCM regulations. FPF reports on a stakeholder workshop held on 9 September to further discuss the presented findings. FPF also reports on an EC meeting with FCM European Professional Associations. In the presentation, the EC announced that an amendment to Regulation (EC) 282/2008 on recycled plastics is under preparation. FPF also reports that EFSA has published scientific opinions on 4 recycling processes used to recycle post-consumer PET into FCMs. Keller and Heckman has published an article on the status of regulations for printing inks in the EU and an article that discusses non-intentionally added substances (NIAS) in FCMs and the general safety requirements within existing US and EU regulations.
FCM regulations – developments in the rest of the world
China: The IBE-BVI reports that a number of new additives and resins have been approved for FCM. Keller and Heckman reports on a public consultation on 21 food contact substances by the CFSA (in Chinese). Denmark: FPF reports that the government (in Danish) will ban the use of PFAS in paper and cardboard used in FCM by July 2020. Germany: FPF reports that the BfR has published an opinion (in German, 507 kB) on the EFSA’s earlier scientific evaluation of human health risks posed by PFOS and PFOA. The opinion reconfirms the 2008 statement that there is a risk. India: FPF reports that a draft FCM standard (694 kB) for printing inks has been published. Japan: Keller and Heckman reports that Japan has notified the WTO of its draft Positive List System for food-contact plastics.
Plastic
ISOE has examined everyday products made of plastic and found that three quarters of such goods contain harmful chemicals. Furthermore, a large proportion of the substances are non-identifiable. The results (abstract) are published in Environmental Science & Technology. Meanwhile a study by CSIR-CFTRI (163 kB) researchers found that water stored in PET bottles did not cause any endocrine disruption activity. ChemSec has published a report (11.48 MB) entitled “Replacing phthalates: Why and how to substitute this hard-to-spell chemical group”.
Labelling
The Brewers of Europe members have signed a MoU committing to label ingredients and energy values on all beer bottles and cans by 2022. Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have developed a new method to help combat fraudulently-labelled organic foods by looking at how organic plants are fertilised. An article (abstract) is published in Food Chemistry. There is currently a debate in Germany on the introduction of a comprehensive and simplified nutritional information label on foods. Researchers at the Université Paris 13 looked at the possibilities for the Nutri-Score label in the German food market. The research, published in the Archives of Public Health (1.08 MB), found that the classification of foods according to the Nutri-Score was consistent with the Food-Based Dietary Guidelines. Two bills, H.R.3981 (359 kB) and S.2337 (358 kB), introduced in the US Congress would create the Food Date Labeling Act of 2019. The bills call for 2 dates to be voluntarily printed on packaging. The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently published a report (5.82 MB) confirming food date labeling to be a significant source of consumer confusion and subsequently food waste.
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