The European Commission (EC) asked the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in March 2018 to determine if the results of four recent studies on titanium dioxide (TiO2), including ones on TiO2 nanoparticles, warranted re-opening a June 2016 EFSA opinion related to the safety of TiO2 (E 171) as a food additive. In the 2016 opinion, EFSA concluded that titanium dioxide when used as a food additive does not raise a concern with respect to genotoxicity and that it is not carcinogenic after oral administration.

With respect to the PackagingLaw.com article, FDA Recognizes Canada’s Food Safety System as Comparable to U.S. Allowing Modified FSVP...

The Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) has determined that the total intake of Bisphenol A (BPA) via food in the Netherlands is very limited.

A National Toxicology Program (NTP) draft report on a comprehensive two-year study rodent study evaluating the effects of bisphenol A (BPA) on health supports the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) determination that levels of BPA in foods from currently authorized uses continue to be safe for consumers, said Deputy Commissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine Stephen Ostroff M.D.

The Washington State Senate is considering a bill that would conditionally restrict the use of perfluorinated chemicals in food packaging beginning in 2021, pending the outcome of an alternatives assessment to be completed by the state’s Department of Ecology (ECY). The bill, HB 2658, which passed the Washington State House on February 12, was read in the Senate on February 15 and referred to the Rules Committee on February 23.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced January 4, 2018, that it does not intent to require importers of food-contact substances to comply with the requirements of the Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP). The FSVP is one of the rules that implements the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). (For background on the FSVP, see the PackagingLaw.com article, FSMA Final Foreign Verification Rule Includes Food-Contact Materials.)

A three-year study recently completed by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) concluded that the risk of chemicals migrating from packaging into food is low and not of concern for human health. FSANZ initiated the study (Proposal P1034) to assess the need for changes in the regulatory scheme for food-contact materials in Australia and New Zealand. 

Challenging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) May 2017 denial of their food additive petition to remove several clearances for perchlorate from food-contact applications, a group of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have requested a formal evidentiary public hearing. (Click here to view the request.) This type of hearing, which would be held before an administrative law judge (ALJ), has not happened since the 1970s.

Canada’s proposed regulations to implement the Safe Foods for Canadians Act (SFCA), which was adopted on June 7, 2012, include a section on packaging requirements for prepackaged food that is conveyed from one province to another or that is imported or exported. These requirements, found in Section 183 of the proposed regulations, state that the package must be:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a guidance document that recommends standards for accrediting third-party certification bodies under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) third-party certification program. Accredited third-parties may conduct food safety audits and issue food and/or facility certifications. These certifications will be required for participation in FSMA’s Voluntary Qualified Importer Program (VQIP).