The California Food Safety Act (AB 418) was amended by the Senate to remove titanium dioxide from its list of prohibited substances. Four substances remain on the list: brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, and red dye 3. The amendment was made just before the legislature was to cast the final vote on AB 418, but it is now ordered to a third reading.
A White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) subcommittee published a report on sustainable chemistry with the goal of coordinating federal programs and activities in this area.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a revised unreasonable risk determination that preliminarily concluded that polyethylene terephthalate (PET) manufacturing contributes to an overall unreasonable risk from 1,4-dioxane, with respect to occupational and drinking water exposures.
The European Commission (EC) has announced that it is working on a measure to further restrict the intentional use of bisphenol A (BPA) in food contact materials (FCMs). The EC hosted a webinar on July 18, 2023, to outline what may be included in forthcoming BPA legislation.
The Rhode Island legislature recently passed a bill to extend the effective date of a ban on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in food packaging from January 1, 2024, until July 31, 2024. The bill, 2023—S0724, which focuses on PFAS in drinking water, groundwater, and surface water, was signed into law by Governor Dan McKee on June 22, 2023.
On June 3, 2023, The Washington State Department of Ecology (DoE) published its Draft Identification of Priority Chemicals Report to the Legislature as a part of the Safer Products for Washington project, cycle 2, implementation phase 1.
On June 7, 2023, U.S. Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) introduced the Food Chemical Reassessment Act of 2023. The bill would require the establishment of an Office of Food Safety Reassessment (the Office) within the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) and require that the Office reassess the safety of at least ten substances added to food or food packaging every three years, beginning in 2024.
On May 31, 2023, Washington State’s Department of Ecology (DoE) adopted a final rule under the state’s Safer Products for Washington Program, which includes a ban on bisphenol-based epoxy liners in drink cans and a reporting requirement for bisphenol-based epoxy liners in food cans. Tetramethyl bisphenol F (TMBPF)-based epoxy can liners are exempted from both the ban and reporting requirement.
California Assembly Bill 418—which would ban the manufacture, sale, and distribution of any food product that contains titanium dioxide, brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, or red dye #3—passed the State Assembly on May 15, 2023. AB 418 was then read in the Senate on May 16, which is also expected to pass the bill. It was referred to the State Senate Committees on Health and Environmental Quality on May 24.