Food Contact Materials | Monthly bulletin | February 2020
Regulatory news - Eurofins updates
The United Kingdom has left the European Union
On the 1st February 2020, the United Kingdom left the European Union. At this moment there is a transition period until the end of 2020 while the UK and EU negotiate additional arrangements. The current standards and legislations for the UK and EU will continue to apply during the transition period. New legislations will take effect on the 1st January 2021.
For further general information about Brexit click here to visit the GOV.UK website.
The Implementation of the Single-Use Plastics Directive
2021 will be the year of single-use plastics: The Directive (EU) 2019/904 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment will take effect, on 3rd July 2021, and the use of certain single-use plastic products will be prohibited. These measures shall achieve a measurable quantitative reduction in the consumption of the single-use plastic products by 2026 compared to 2022.Please find below a table summarising the main dates of this Directive.
|
Date |
Single-use plastics |
According to |
|
03-07-2021 |
List of prohibited single-use plastic products:
|
Article 5 and Part B of the Annex |
|
03-07-2021 |
List of products that shall have marking requirements:
|
Article 7 and part C of the Annex |
|
03-07-2024 |
Beverage containers of up to three litres to have their plastic caps and lids attached to the container during the product’s intended use stage
The Directive calls for the adoption of relevant European standards |
Article 6 and part C of the Annex |
|
31-12-2024 |
List of single-use plastic products which are the extended producer responsibility:
|
Article 8 and part E of the Annex |
Public consultation on endocrine disruptors
On the 16th December 2019, the European Commission opened a public consultation in relation to endocrine disruptors chemicals.
The purpose of the consultation was:
- To assess public concerns and needs relating to endocrine disruptors in the EU
- To evaluate to which extent current EU legislation meets the concerns and needs of citizens
- To identify opportunities for improvement in the way endocrine disruptors are assessed, managed and potential risks communicated
You can contribute to this consultation until the 9th March 2020.
For more information, please visit the European Commission’s website here.
Please find below a table summarising the most recent technical publications on food contact materials (non-exhaustive):
|
Date |
Countries |
Entity |
Title |
|
18-11-2019 |
Germany |
BfR |
BfR Opinion No. 045/2019: Reducing aluminium intake can minimise potential health risks |
|
01-11-2019 |
Germany |
Umwelt Bundesamt |
|
|
13-12-2019 |
Germany |
BfR |
FAQs about aluminium in food and products intended for consumers |
|
17-12-2019 |
Europe |
BEUC |
Time is ripe to repackage food safely
BEUC position on the regulation of Food Contact Materials |
The ban of certain single-use plastic products
On the 27th December 2019, French authorities published the Decree nº 2019-1451 regarding the ban of certain single-use plastic products.
The aim of the decree is to indicate the conditions under which a ban should be applied on the availability of certain single-use plastic products such as straws, cutlery, steak spikes, disposable glass lids, meal trays, ice cream jars, salad bowls, boxes, mixing sticks for beverages, etc.
The provisions of this decree come into force on the January 1, 2020, with the exception of products compostable in domestic composting and made up, in whole or in part, of bio-based materials. For these excepted products, this decree will come into force on the 3rd July, 2021.
Alignment of Turkish requirements with European requirements regarding Food contact plastics materials
On the 25th December 2019, the Turkish authorities published the following notifications in the Official Journal Nº 30989:
- Notification Nº: 2019/43: Food simulants used in migration tests for plastic materials and articles Intended to come into contact with food
- Notification Nº: 2019/44: Plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food.
These notifications are the equivalence to the Commission Regulation (EU) No 10/2011.
Standards updates
See below a table summarising the most recent ASTM standard updates:
|
Reference |
Title |
|
Standard Practice for Sampling and Handling Bisphenol A(4,4′ -Isopropylidinediphenol) |
New substances added to FDA inventory of Effective Food Contact Substances
The following substances have been recently added to the Inventory of Effective Food Contact Substances (FCS) Notifications of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
|
FCN number |
Substances |
Date |
|
An aqueous mixture of peroxyacetic acid (PAA) (CAS Reg. No. 79-21-0), hydrogen peroxide (HP) (CAS Reg. No. 7722-84-1), acetic acid (AA) (CAS Reg. No. 64-19-7), and, optionally, sulfuric acid (SA) (CAS Reg. No. 7664-93-9) |
Oct 30, 2019 |
|
|
An aqueous mixture of peroxyacetic acid (PAA) (CAS Reg. No. 79-21-0), hydrogen peroxide (HP) (CAS Reg. No. 7722-84-1), acetic acid (AA) (CAS Reg. No. 64-19-7), sulfuric acid (SA) (CAS reg. No. 7664-93-9), and 1-hydroxyethylidine-1,1- diphosphonic acid (HEDP) (CAS Reg. No. 2809-21-4) |
Oct 23, 2019 |
|
|
Carbamodithioic acid, N,N-dibutyl-, C,C'-methylene ester (CAS Reg. No. 10254-57-6) |
Oct 9, 2019 |
|
|
Polyurethane resin produced by reacting a mixture of 2,4-toluene diisocyanate (CAS Reg. No. 584-84-9) and 2,6-toluene diisocyanate (CAS Reg. No. 91-08-7) with polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropylene glyceryl ether (CAS Reg. No. 9082-00-2) and 1,4-butanediol (CAS Reg. No. 110-63-4) |
Oct 3, 2019 |
|
|
Triphenyl phosphite, polymer with 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol and polypropylene glycol, C10-16 alkyl esters (CAS Reg. No. 1821217-71-3) |
Oct 29, 2019 |
|
|
An aqueous mixture of peroxylactic acid (PAA) (CAS Reg. No. 75033-25-9), hydrogen peroxide (HP) (CAS Reg. No. 7722-84-1), lactic acid (LA) (CAS Reg. No. 50-21-5), optionally 1-hydroxyethylidine-1,1-diphosphonic acid (HEDP) (CAS Reg. No. 2809-21-4), optionally sulfuric acid (SA) (CAS Reg. No. 7664-93-9), optionally dipicolinic acid (DPA) (CAS Reg. No. 499-83-2), and optionally phosphoric acid (PA) (CAS Reg. No. 7664-38-2) |
Oct 30, 2019 |
|
|
1,3-Benzenedicarboxylic acid, 5-sulfo-, 1,3-dimethyl ester, sodium salt (1:1), polymer with dimethyl 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate and 1,2-ethanediol (CAS Reg. No. 27937-63-9) |
Oct 29, 2019 |
As previously announced in our Eurofins News Flash in December 2019date regarding the availability of a scientifically-validated method for testing 16 types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in a variety of food groups.
Other entities are following the FDA’s lead in relation to persuing action on PFAS substances.
In November 2019, Connecticut published its PFAS Action plan with the aim of health of Connecticut residents and the environment. The mains points of this plan are:
- Minimise the environmental exposure of PFAS to Connecticut residents
- Minimise future releases of PFAS into the environment
- Identify, assess, and clean up historical releases of PFAS into the environment
In December, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its PFAS Action plan with the aim of protecting public health.
PFASs are extremely persistent in the environment and have been associated with a number of health hazards, including endocrine disruption, developmental and reproductive toxicity, and immunotoxicity. They are used in many applications such as food packaging made of paper and paperboard among others. For this reason, these substances have to be monitored very closely.
Adoption Mercosur requirements for food contact materials
On the 4th December 2019, Brazil’s National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) published Resolution of the Collegiate Board (Resolução Da Directoria Colegiada - RDC) No. 326. This technical regulation incorporates Mercosur resolution 39/2019 into Brazilian law and repeals RDC 17/2008. It establishes the positive list of additives intended for elaboration of plastic materials and coating polymeric materials in contact with food and provides relevant measures. It will take effect 180 days after the date of adoption.
Below you will find a monthly summary table of product recalls and alerts in Europe (Source “RASFF”) and in the US (Source “CPSC”).
Europe
RASFF (European Commission Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed - Alerts reported by EU national authorities).
The following 11 alerts regarding Food Contact Materials were reported from the 21st December of 2019 to 20th January of 2020.
|
Product |
Substance / Hazard |
|
|
Travel mugs |
Migration of DBP - dibutyl phthalate (1.8 mg/kg - ppm) |
|
|
Black laminated cardboard not suitable to contain food |
Ink contamination due to polypropylene foil missing |
|
|
Enamelled pot |
Migration of aluminium (0.80 mg/l) |
|
|
Biobased disposable tableware |
Level of overall migration of acetic acid too high (3 %) |
|
|
Bamboo mug |
Migration of formaldehyde (188.2 mg/kg - ppm) |
|
|
Pressure cookers |
Migration of aluminium (47, 33, 33 mg/kg - ppm) |
|
|
Enamelled bowls |
Migration of aluminium (0.55 mg/l) |
|
|
Melamine plastic plates |
Migration of melamine (3.86; 3.91 mg/kg - ppm) |
|
|
Cutting board |
Level of overall migration too high (61.3+/-6.1 mg/dm²) |
|
|
Mug |
Migration of cadmium (3.0, 2.9 mg/dm²) |
|
|
Mugs |
Migration of formaldehyde (43 mg/dm²) and level of overall migration too high (14.2 mg/dm²) |
|
From the 21st December of 2019 to the 20th January of 2020, the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) published the following recalls: 2 recall regarding Food Contact Materials.
|
Type of Risk |
Number of alerts |
Notes |
|
Laceration hazard |
1 |
Milk bottles: The bottles can break unexpectedly during use |
|
Fire hazard |
1 |
Travel mugs: The mugs are mislabeled as microwave safe. If microwaved, the metallic print on the mug can spark |
DIN CERTCO approved Eurofins for biodegradability testing
One of the major Certification bodies, DIN CERTCO - issuing the so called seedling logo – has recently approved Eurofins Consumer Product Testing in Hamburg/Germany as recognized test laboratory to prove the demands of biodegradability and industrial compostability of packaging materials, intermediates and additives. All relevant testing can be executed by Eurofins to achieve the certification by DIN CERTCO.
