Foodlaw-Reading
Dr David Jukes, The University of Reading, UK
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FSA EU Developments Item, 24 October 2016
This is a further update on the Commission’s proposal to introduce a new regulation on Bisphenol A (BPA). It follows an update we provided in January 2016.
The planned vote at the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SCoPAFF) on the draft Regulation in May 2016 was delayed to allow the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to assess two studies on the effects of BPA on the immune system that were unpublished at the time of the 2015 EFSA opinion on BPA.
This was following a request from the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport to review a report by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM).
The Commission considered it prudent to wait for EFSA’s assessment before voting on the draft Regulation.
EFSA's statement concluded that the evidence from these two studies is too limited to draw any conclusions for human health and not sufficient to revise the temporary tolerable intake (t-TDI) which it set its opinion on BPA in 2015. This should pave the way for the Commission to put the draft Regulation to the SCoPAFF for a vote by the end of 2016.
For the January report, see: 27 January 2016 CONTACT MATERIALS - European Commission proposes New Regulation for Bisphenol-A (BPA) in Food Contact Materials
