The European Commission has published its public consultation on the revision of the legislation of materials destined to contact with food (FCM). The objectives of this consultation and the next ones to be published are:
Improve food safety and public health
Support the use of innovative and sustainable packaging solutions that use environmentally friendly, reusable and recyclable materials
Contribute to the reduction of food waste
These commitments are also reflected in other key strategies implemented at European level, such as the Circular Economy Action Plan and the Chemical Substances Sustainability Strategy towards a toxic-free environment.
This public consultation is open to contributions from all interested parties and therefore the questionnaire includes two sets of questions:
Aimed at citizens: Questions addressed to all citizens as consumers of food in food packaging and users of kitchen utensils and crockery.
Intended for other interested parties: Questions addressed to companies, company representatives, consumer organisations, scientific institutions and those involved in the compliance and application of the FCM legislation.
This consultation is based on the previous public consultation to address the deficiencies detected in the current legislation such as:
Lack of clarity regarding the safety and functioning of the EU market as there are no specific EU harmonized standards for non-plastic FCMs.
Weaknesses and limitations of the legislation that is mainly based on a list of authorized starting substances and lack of sufficient attention to the final article of the CSF.
Lack of prioritization of the most dangerous substances in all the FCMs.
Poor quality, availability and transparency of information in the supply chain, hindering the ability to ensure compliance and conduct official controls.
Current regulations do not sufficiently support small and medium-sized enterprises and the development of safe and more sustainable alternatives.
The deadline for submitting comments is January 11, 2023.
You can access the text of the consultation and all the information in the following link
