The European Commission has provided more information about the upcoming ban on the intentional use of bisphenol A (BPA) in food contact materials (covered in a previous edition) via a webinar in July, and a Q&A document published on 4th August.

The ban would apply to all food contact materials and articles sold in the EU, or imported into the EU, that can be manufactured using BPA. This includes plastics, coatings, adhesives, printing inks and rubbers, but not materials that inherently do not use BPA, such as wood or glass. It is expected to be in force from Spring 2024, with a default 18-month transition period.

The Commission's decision to ban BPA in FCMs was prompted by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)'s re-evaluation of the toxicity of BPA, published in April. After reviewing more than 800 new studies EFSA significantly reduced the tolerable daily intake of BPA by around 20,000 times, and concluded that people in all age groups are at risk from BPA in their diets.

Last week the European Environment Agency published a briefing highlighting that Europeans are widely exposed to BPA at levels exceeding acceptable safety standards.

UK charity the Soil Association is considering new standards to minimise the use of certain toxic or harmful chemicals in packaging of organic products.

Through their subsidiary Soil Association Certification (the UK's largest organic certification body) they certify organic products in different sectors, such as food, health and beauty, and textiles. Several updates to their standards for packaging have been proposed, two of which relate to specific groups of chemicals: phthalates and PFAS.

They are proposing to expand their current restriction on phthalates so that it would apply to all plastic packaging materials (previously the restriction applied only to packaging that would come into direct contact with food). They are also proposing to introduce a new standard on PFAS, which would restrict all PFAS substances in certain food packaging, including greaseproof paper packaging and takeaway card clamshells.

For both phthalates and PFAS, the Soil Association highlights the impacts on our health and environment, and the current availability of alternatives as reasons for introducing these changes.

A consultation on these changes runs until 22nd September 2023 and is open to the public.

Find out more about the consultation and how to respond here.

Read more in CHEM Trust’s news story.