Keller and Heckman Partners Pamela Langhorn and Hazel O’Keeffe will be giving presentations during the virtual Plastics and Paper in Contact with Foodstuffs Conference, which will take place December 14-16, 2021. Pam will speak on Food-Contact Paper Regulations Around the Globe and Hazel will speak on the German and the Swiss Printing Inks Ordinances.
Keller and Heckman Partner Hazel O’Keeffe will present, “Legislative aspects: food contact and recycled material,” followed by Associate Ales Bartl who will present, “Legislative aspects: REACH and recycled material,” at the International Seminar on Plastics Recycling, taking place in Valencia, Spain on December 1-2, 2021. The seminar will focus on the challenges of recycling plastic waste when implementing a circular economy that aims to create more sustainable solutions.
Keller and Heckman Partner Rachida Semail will speak on recent developments in food packaging law at the 15th European Food and Feed Law Conference, to be held October 21-22, 2021, in Brussels. The conference will also include presentations on actions within the EU against food waste, the new food labelling information system, supply chain law, transparency regulations, biocides, and the Brexit developments regarding the marketing of food.
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1200, known as the California Safer Food Packaging Cookware Act of 2021, on October 5, 2021. The bill bans the use of perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) in food packaging composed in substantial part of paper, paperboard, or other materials derived from plant fibers. It also requires warning labels on cookware to which PFAS was intentionally added.
The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) is in the process of updating its food-contact recommendations. While BfR recommendations are not legally binding, they are widely respected by industry throughout the European Union.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a new version of its Guidance for Industry: Microbiological Considerations for Antimicrobial Agents Used in Food Applications (September 2021). This guidance replaces a previous guidance on this topic that was issued in September 2007 and revised in June 2008.
On August 20, 2021, China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment (CFSA) requested comments on 11 food-contact materials and articles, including five new additives, four food-contact materials and articles for usage expanded, and two new resins.
New Additives for Food-Contact Materials and Articles
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently added twelve new substances to its Inventory of Effective Food Contact Substances (FCS) Notifications. The newly listed substances and the manufacturers are listed below.