EFSA Publishes Risk Assessment of Food Contact Materials

On November 27, 2020, the European Food Safety Authority published “The Risk Assessment of Food Contact Materials” as a part of EU-Fora Programme. Food contact materials (FCM) can contain chemicals that could migrate from the material itself to the foodstuff posing health concerns if ingested in non‐safe quantities by the consumer.

The scope of the scientific document highlights the below focal points as a part of the technical analysis:

• FCM include containers, packaging, machinery or kitchenware and can be made from different materials like plastics, paper and board, metal or glass. Printing inks are also an important part of FCM.
• To prevent from damage or spoilage of the foodstuff and are essential along the food chain. Therefore, their safety needs to be carefully assessed in order to reduce the exposure to potentially hazardous substances and protect the health of the consumer.
• At the EU level, the legislation on FCM establishes general safety requirements for FCM. In addition, for certain materials, specific measures concerning usage and release of substances have been set.
• For materials or articles not specifically regulated in the harmonized framework, safety must be proven on a case‐by‐case basis. National legislations and lists of substances evaluated by competent authorities are important data sources.
• One of the most important databases are the ‘BfR Recommendations on Food Contact Materials’ and the soon to come German National Regulation on printing inks.
• BfR Unit 74, besides dealing with chemical risk assessment of FCM, is responsible for the evaluation of application dossiers for including substances into the BfR recommendations on FCM or the substance list of the printing inks regulation.

Through the proposed work programme the scientific researcher has been involved in risk assessment of substances that migrate from FCM into foodstuff gaining experience in the methodologies used to perform the scientific data evaluation as well as to support the BfR Unit 74s work.

To view the detailed technical report, check out the Food News Monitoring System.