Food legislation and food safety – October 2023
Food Contact Materials (FCMs) – rules and regulations
EU: EFSA has published an infographic (2.93 MB) on mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOSH and MOAH) in food. It shows in which foods they can be found, their potential impact on human health and how different actors in the EU work closely to protect public health.
The 11th annual Food Packaging Forum (FPF) workshop “Achieving safe and sustainable food packaging: Where are we now?” took place on 28 September 2023. Recordings of the presentations are available online.
China: Keller and Heckman reports that the government has approved expanded usage for three FCMs and two new resins.
India: FSSAI (74 kB) is strongly urging consumers and food vendors to stop using newspapers for packing, serving and storing food items and recommends using safe and approved food packaging materials.
Turkey: SGS reports that a draft amendment to the food contact plastics regulation has been notified to the WTO. The draft implements two amendments to the European Regulation (EU) 10/2011 on food contact plastics. If approved, the law will become effective on 1 January 2026.
Claims, marking and labelling
EU: On 20 September, EP ENVI discussed the draft report on the proposal for a 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. All relevant documents, including proposed amendments can be found here.
The Council has given its final green light on a new EU law that will align the rules regarding the labelling of organic pet food to those governing the labelling of organic food intended for human consumption. Under the new regulation, pet food can be labelled with the EU organic production logo if 95% of its agricultural ingredients are organic. This regulation is part of the farm to fork strategy.
Luxembourg: A draft regulation on the use of the Nutri-Score logo has been sent to the EC.
Poland: A draft regulation on the labelling of alcoholic drinks has been sent to the EC.
US: The FDA has published two new chapters to the Draft Guidance for Industry: Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food. Chapter 11 explains how to establish and implement a program that ensures protection of food from major food allergen cross-contact and that the finished food is properly labelled with respect to these allergens. The FDA has also has updated its Food Traceability FAQ.
Research on FCMs
An international team of over 20 scientists, led by FPF has introduced a new conceptual approach to risk assessment procedures for FCMs. At present, assessments focus on one chemical at a time. In the future, the authors envision assessing the whole cocktail of chemicals that migrate from FCMs and testing their effects with respect to multiple growing health concerns. The approach (3.2 MB) is published in Environment International.
Researchers at Cornell University found that blue 405 nm LED light effectively inactivates bacterial pathogens on substrates and packaging materials used in food processing. An article (2.67 MB) about the research is published in Scientific Reports.
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