Brussels to crackdown on bisphenol A. Ban in food packaging ready

Brussels – Brussels is working on a crackdown on bisphenol A, a chemical found in many plastic products and containers that can migrate, in small amounts, into the food and beverages they contain and pose a risk to human health. The European Commission has opened until March 8 a public consultation to submit by the end of the year a proposal for a regulation that will impose a ban on BPA in food contact materials, including plastics and coated packaging.

The initiative, the European Commission explains, comes after the latest European Food Safety Authority opinion indicated a human health concern. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical mainly used in combination with other substances to produce certain plastics and resins: it is contained, for example, in polycarbonate, a type of transparent, rigid plastic used to make water dispensers, storage containers and reusable beverage bottles.

The substance is also used to produce epoxy resins used in films and coatings of cans and in beverage and food containers. EFSA periodically conducts safety assessments, the latest dating back to April 2023, in which it significantly reduced the tolerable daily intake threshold established in its previous 2015 assessment. EFSA experts set a maximum threshold of 0.2 nanograms (0.2ng or 0.2 billionths of a gram) per kilogram of body weight per day (kg/bw/day), replacing the previous temporary threshold of 4 micrograms (4μg or four millionths of a gram) per kilogram of body weight per day, about 20 thousand times lower than the previous one. As early as 2011, the European Commission has banned its use in baby bottles.