Food Contact Materials | Monthly bulletin | March 2020
The Environment Committee’s Objection to a Commission Proposal on Lead in Recycled PVC
On 21st January 2020, the Environment Committee of the European Parliament rejected the European Commission’s proposal to increase the permitted concentration of lead in recycled polyvinylchloride (PVC).
The Commission’s proposed regulation, restricting the use and presence of lead and its compounds in articles produced from Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), sets the maximum concentration limit of lead as 0,1% by weight of the PVC material, with the exception of two derogations. One allows for concentration of lead up to 2% by weight of rigid PVC, and the other allows for concentration of lead of up to 1% by weight of flexible/soft PVC. These exemptions will be in place for 15 years.
For more information, click here to visit the European Parliament website.
Please find below a table summarising recent regulatory proposals made to the European Commission (Non-exhaustive):
|
Notification number |
Countries |
Title |
|
Germany |
Act implementing the Waste Framework Directive of the European Union
This draft Act affects the contents of the amended Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC on waste, amended by Directive (EU) 2018/851 as part of the ‘EU Circular Economy Package’) as well as individual regulations of the Single-Use Plastics Directive (Directive (EU) 2019/904). In addition, the legislative process is used to independently develop German Circular Economy law with a view to achieving improved closed cycles and resource conservation in additional approaches in the future |
|
|
Order relating to certain requirements for packaging
This draft lays down a minimum price for carrier bags which are provided at the point of sale for goods or products. The Order transposes part of Directive (EU) 2015/720 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2015 amending Directive 94/62/EC as regards to reducing the consumption of lightweight plastic carrier bags as well as parts of Directive (EU) 2018/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste
It is proposed that the Order should come into effect on 1 July 2020. The requirement to charge the minimum price comes into effect on 1 January 2021, at the same time as the ban on free provision of plastic bags |
Please find below a table summarising the most recent technical publications on food contact materials (non-exhaustive):
|
Date |
Countries |
Entity |
Title |
|
25-11-2019 |
Germany |
BfR |
BfR Opinion No. 046/2019: Fillable articles made from melamine formaldehyde resin, such as to-go coffee cups sold as ‘bambooware’, may allow for the leak of harmful substances into hot foods |
|
15-02-2020 |
France |
DGCCRF |
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 |
|
2-propenoic acid, 2-methyl-, 1-methyl-1,3-propanediyl ester, polymer with 1,3-butadiene, butyl 2-propenoate, ethenylbenzene, and methyl-2-methyl-2-propenoate (CAS Reg. No. 143646-08-6 or 25101-28-4).REPLACES FCN 1508 |
Nov 20, 2019 |
|
|
Butyl acrylate (CAS Reg. No. 141-32-2) |
Nov 16, 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), 1-hydroxyethylidene-1,1-diphosphonic acid (HEDP) (CAS Reg. No. 2809-21-4), dipicolinic acid (DPA) (CAS Reg. No. 499-83-2), and optionally sulfuric acid (CAS Reg. No. 7664-93-9) |
Nov 6, 2019 |
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Polycyclooctene (CAS Reg. No. 25267-51-0), used in conjunction with cobalt stearate (CAS Reg. No. 13586-84-0) REPLACES FCN 1896 |
Nov 5, 2019 |
Regulatory proposals notified to WTO
Please see the below table summarising the most recent notifications made to the World Trade Organization (WTO) (non-exhaustive):
|
Notification number |
Countries |
Title |
|
|
Japan |
Ministerial Ordinance on Standards for Labeling of the Steel or Aluminium beverage cans (2) Ministerial Ordinance on Standards for Labeling of the Polyethylene terephthalate beverage or specified sauce containers
Requirement for manufacturers to include specific marks indicating waste separation practices on specified products in order to promote recycling
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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 6 alerts regarding Food Contact Materials were reported from the 21st January of 2020 to 15th February of 2020.
|
Product |
Substance / Hazard |
|
|
Children's tableware set declared to be made from maize and bamboo |
Migration of formaldehyde (19.2 mg/kg - ppm) and melamine (4.71; 6.64 mg/kg - ppm) |
|
|
Paper straws |
3-monochlor-1,2-propanediol (3-MCPD) (24.6 µg/l) |
|
|
Ice cube tray |
Migration of rhodamine B |
|
|
Ice cream waffle shaped cup |
Unfit for use as food contact material (not dishwasherproof) |
|
|
Travel mugs |
Migration of DBP - dibutyl phthalate (1.8 mg/kg - ppm) |
|
|
Melamine tumblers |
Migration of formaldehyde (9.75 mg/kg - ppm) and of melamine (21 mg/kg - ppm) |
|
From the 21st January of 2020 to the 15th February of 2020, the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) published the following recalls: 0 recalls regarding Food Contact Materials.
