Chemical contamination of food, beverages, and water include chemicals used in the growing or production of food, such as pesticides or veterinary drugs, as well as chemicals present in sanitizers, cleaning solutions, coatings, and packaging.
Missouri and Washington are the latest states to introduce bills to ban the same four food additives as the California Food Safety Act: brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, and red dye 3.
A bill has been introduced by California Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-46), who was also behind the recently passed California Food Safety Act, to the California Assembly. Assembly Bill (AB) 2316 would prohibit food containing red dye 40 and titanium dioxide, among other color additives, from being offered by California public schools.
After hundreds of children across the U.S. contracted lead poisoning after eating fruit puree pouches containing contaminated cinnamon, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has identified six additional ground cinnamon products that were found to contain elevated levels of lead. The agency has issued a recall.
A recently introduced bill in New York State legislature seeks to seeks to establish requirements for the reporting of substances considered “generally ruled as safe” (GRAS).
The presence of veterinary drugs and other substances in food animals and animal-derived foods in the EU remains low, according to the most recent data reported by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
The European Parliament and Council have reached a provisional agreement on the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), which, if ratified, would require all packaging used in the EU to be recyclable, set restrictions on plastic packaging, and ban the use of toxic PFAS in food contact packaging.
States like California have been active in the past few years passing laws to regulate PFAS in products. So far, 12 states have enacted laws that ban or impose reporting or disclosure requirements for PFAS in products. As states continue to move forward with emerging PFAS product restrictions, those who manufacture, distribute, and sell such products must prepare for the changing legal landscape.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has updated its list of chemicals that are undergoing postmarket safety assessment. The list also newly includes information about the status of the postmarket assessments and links to public information about postmarket actions that have been taken.
FDA has announced that, thanks to voluntary phase-out by industry, toxic PFAS are no longer being sold by manufacturers for use in food-contact grease-proofing agents in the U.S. FDA also said it is working towards a validated analytical method that would enable the agency to monitor the market for PFAS in food packaging.