As the word’s second largest market for processed foods, the battle between EU food regulators and consumer groups will have an influence on the continued survival of Bisphenol A (BPA) as a packaging material in the international food industry.
BPA, which is a proven endocrine disruptor that can have a profound influence on human metabolism and particularly on the development of children from in-vitro stage to early adulthood, has already been banned from packaging of children’s food in Canada and a number of European countries. This week, however, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded an extensive reconsideration of evidence regarding BPA by declaring no change to advisory limits of the substance in food.
The European Consumers’ Organisation, BEUC, has responded by calling for BPA to be banned on the basis of the ‘precautionary principle’ that there is no evidence of BPA’s safety.
In a release today, Monique Goyens, director general of BEUC, the European Consumers’ Organisation, commented, “Consumers are exposed everyday to a cocktail of harmful chemicals from various sources such as phthalates in drinking bottles and cosmetics, mercury in fish dishes, dyes in textiles and as this opinion does not take this chemical cocktail effect into account, it should be treated with caution.
“Consumers expect products to be safe, an expectation which is compromised by products containing Bisphenol A; this is why we urge the European Commission to make use of the precautionary principle and ban the use of Bisphenol A from consumer products.”
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