Swiss Team Marks Food Contact Chemicals as "Of Concern”

After identifying 388 Food Contact Chemicals (FCCs) as “of concern” substances, Swiss researchers from the Food Packaging Forum (FPF) called for such substances to be phased out. These substances that are listed as being “intentionally added” to Food Contact Materials (FCMs) in the FPF’s FCC database (FCCdb) include:

• Carcinogenic, Mutagenic or Reprotoxic substances (CMRs),
• Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs), and
• Persistent and Bioaccumulative substances (PBs). 

The database for the migrating and extractable FCCs, FCCmigex as labeled by FPF, has also listed some of the aforementioned substances, where 97 of such chemicals were found evidently migrating from FCMs. Part-funded by environmental NGO Zero Waste Europe, the research league including colleagues at ETH Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology spotted the need to investigate a wider range of FCCs in extraction and migration experiments; the ultimate calling is that no untested substances and no hazardous chemicals shall be present in FCMs.