The current EU law on materials and packaging which come into contact with food is failing to protect people’s health, an international NGO has warned.
Brussels-based Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) said that EU law on food contact materials permit chemicals that are prohibited in other products under EU law.
Food comes into contact with many materials and articles during its production, processing, storage, preparation and serving, before its eventual consumption. Such materials and articles are called food contact materials. Examples include containers for transporting food, machinery to process food, packaging materials and kitchenware and tableware.
A recent study on plastic food containers showed that chemicals can migrate from the plastic walls of the containers into warm fatty foods, such as gravy or lasagna.
EU law, HEAL argues, is ignoring today’s science on endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which are chemicals known to interfere with the hormonal system.
EDCs are associated with hormonal cancers (breast, prostate, testes) as well as reproductive problems (infertility, adverse pregnancy outcomes), metabolic disorders (diabetes, obesity), allergies and neurodevelopmental problems (learning disorders, autism).
There was an urgent need for policies that reduce exposure to EDCs
Some migrating chemicals that are a danger to health, including carcinogens, neurotoxins and EDCs, are falling through the EU legislative net, the alliance says.
Concerns about plastics leaking into food from packaging have already led to an EU ban on Bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles and limitations on the use of certain phthalates in food contact materials made of plastic. Both these substances are known to be endocrine disruptors.
A recent study estimated that prenatal exposure to BPA was likely responsible for 42,400 cases of obesity in four-year-olds in the EU.
BPA is used to make certain plastics used in food packaging, coatings used on the insides of aluminium and metal cans, and lid closures on glass jars and bottles.
It made no sense for the EU to be pushing for better regulation but allowing these massive contradictions to continue between the law on food contact materials and other EU laws regulating chemicals use, the Brussels-based NGO warned.
“It is highly inefficient for the single market to allow a roulette of defective EU laws, different or non-existent national laws, and whatever standards the food contact materials industry applies. Making sure that all the materials which come into contact with food are safe would better serve EU citizens, companies and actually produce better regulation.”
HEAL’s executive director Génon Jensen, who was in Malta for a conference last year, had said there was an urgent need for policies that reduce exposure to EDCs.
She said two to five per cent of Malta’s health costs could be saved with a proper environmental policy that reduced exposure to EDCs.