The advice comes after FSA and FSS told industry in May 2022 to stop selling food contact materials containing bamboo and similar unauthorized plant-based materials such as rice husks, wheat straw, and hemp, and called for evidence to assess the long-term safety of these products. 

FSA’s Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) considered new data submitted to FSA and FSS, and found that there is insufficient evidence to conclude that such products are safe. Concerns remain over the impact on health from long-term use. More specifically, COT found that the presence of bamboo and similar plant-based matter in plastic materials can result in formaldehyde and melamine leaking into food or drink products above the legal limit.  

Although it is unlikely that the short-term use of these products would result in an immediate risk to health, FSA and FSS recommend reducing exposure to these products because the long-term impacts from regular use of these items remains unclear.  

In Northern Ireland, these products have already been prohibited for sale as a food contact material, following the European Commission’s Food Contact Material legislation.