Food contact materials (FCMs) are defined as “all the materials and articles that are intended to be put into contact with food, and beverages, or will presumably be in contact with food, or beverages” and are regulated by the Regulation (EC) 1935/2004 of 27 October 2004 on materials and articles intended to come into contact with food. It includes food packaging, kitchen equipment, tableware etc. These items can be made from a variety of materials including plastics, rubber, paper and metal.
However, consumers are kept in the dark about the toxic substances present in their everyday products, while waste managers are themselves unaware of the chemicals present in the packaging they process and possibly recycle into new food packaging products. Adding to the growing body of evidence on consumers’ exposure to harmful chemicals present in food packaging, they call for action for more protective and harmonised legislation.
SAFE advocates for a new European regulation on chemicals in food contact materials which would ensure a high level of human health protection and stresses that the presence and migration of chemical substances in food contact articles must be measured, evaluated, and controlled.
Find publications on this topic here :
- SAFE’s response to the roadmap: revision of EU rules on Food Contact Materials, 2021
- SAFE’s report on recycled plastics in Food Contact Materials, 2020
- SAFE Position Paper on Food Contact Materials, 2020
- Public Consultation on Food Contact Materials , 2019
- Call for new EU legislation on FCMs to be based on five key principles, 2019
- Public Consultation on Food Contact Materials (migration limit of lead, cadmium and other materials from ceramic and vitreous FCMs) – Feedback to the European Commission, 2019
- Feedback to the European Commission’s Evaluation and Fitness Check Roadmap, 2018
- Briefing note on food packaging and European policies (incl. endocrine disruptors and Bisphenol A), 2017
