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Food for Thought
July 2023
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Welcome to 'Food for Thought', a newsletter sharing key updates on food contact material (FCM) policy, ideas for revised FCM legislation and useful resources. There are thousands of chemicals in food contact materials that can potentially migrate into our food or drink, and many of these chemicals can harm our health and pollute the environment. This is why we need more protective regulation.
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Consumers agree that harmful chemicals should not be present in Food Contact Materials
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The European Commission has published its summary report on the public consultation on the revision of EU rules on food contact materials (FCMs). The consultation included two questionnaires - one designed for stakeholders, and the other for consumers.
Over 90% of the consumers who responded strongly agreed or agreed that substances affecting the reproductive and endocrine systems, and substances potentially causing cancers, should not be present in food contact materials.
Consumers also showed support for reusable food packaging, and were willing to bring their own reusable packaging to supermarkets.
Download the full report here.
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Consumers criteria to consider when designing legislation on reducing packaging waste
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Euroconsumers, a consumer organisation in Europe representing more than 1.5 million people in Italy, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and Brazil, published a position paper on the European Commission’s proposal on the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation. They have developed a consumer checklist with five criteria to consider in this legislation, including one on safety - reuse and recycling at no (health) risk.
According to Euroconsumers, consumer concerns about health and safety are particularly relevant for food packaging, as chemicals can leach from food packaging. In a recent survey, 70% of respondents expressed worry about the health effects of chemicals in food packaging, and 9 out of 10 supported stricter regulations to prevent these impacts. Euroconsumers emphasises the importance of implementing measures to minimise and eliminate hazardous substances in packaging materials from the beginning of the product cycle.
The organisation emphasises that "While the current proposal for a new packaging and packaging waste regulation mentions this as a general ambition, clear measures to achieve this are shockingly absent. Human health is not something to be bargained with".
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New factsheet debunking myths around food packaging
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A new factsheet from Zero Waste Europe aims to bust some of the most common myths surrounding food packaging. Misconceptions regarding food hygiene, health concerns, and food waste have been spread by the interested industry for some time. These concerns were raised especially during the current debate on revising the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR).
The factsheet addresses several myths, including that single use packaging reduces food waste and protects our health; that reusable packaging is not hygienic; and that recycling will solve the waste problem.
In 2021, Zero Waste Europe, the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL), the European Consumer Organisation BEUC, CHEM Trust and ClientEarth also joined up to bust some of the most popular myths surrounding the chemicals used in food contact materials through a handy infographic.
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New policy briefing on toxic-free and future-proof food packaging
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A new Zero Waste Europe policy briefing lays out the shortcomings related to the current regulation of chemicals in food packaging, and provides recommendations to achieve toxic-free and future-proof food packaging.
The briefing highlights inconsistencies in the current Food Contact Materials (FCMs) Regulation that compromise its aims of ensuring chemical safety and the functioning of the internal market. The focus on plastic packaging is prominent, but harmonised EU rules are lacking for most other materials where harmful chemicals can also be found.
Zero Waste Europe recommends addressing harmful chemicals in circular economy solutions, and avoiding the upstream introduction of hazardous substances in food packaging. The new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation offers an excellent opportunity to regulate sustainability of packaging, and improve and harmonise EU-wide rules on harmful chemicals in all packaging materials and articles. Zero Waste Europe also calls for a timely revision of the delayed FCM legislation.
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This newsletter is produced by a collaboration between CHEM Trust, the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) and Zero Waste Europe (ZWE). Together, we are working towards creating a toxic-free environment where nobody should have to worry about the presence of health-harming chemicals in the products that come into contact with our food.
CHEM Trust is a charity based in Germany and the UK, with the overarching aim to prevent synthetic chemicals from causing long term damage to wildlife or humans, by ensuring that chemicals which cause such harm are substituted with safer alternatives. (EU Transparency number: 27053044762-72)
The Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) is the leading not-for-profit organisation addressing how the environment affects human health in the European Union (EU) and beyond. HEAL works to shape laws and policies that promote planetary and human health and protect those most affected by pollution, and raise awareness on the benefits of environmental action for health. (EU Transparency number: 00723343929-96)
Zero Waste Europe (ZWE) is the European network of communities, local leaders, experts, and change agents working towards the elimination of waste in our society. We advocate for sustainable systems and the redesign of our relationship with resources, to accelerate a just transition towards zero waste for the benefit of people and the planet. (EU Transparency number: 47806848200-34)
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