Dive Brief:
- The United Nations’ food organization addressed a contentious packaging issue in a new report Wednesday: While recycled plastic in food packaging offers certain environmental benefits, it also brings chemical safety concerns, the Food and Agriculture Organization wrote.
- An absence of globally harmonized standards is complicating the situation. The report calls for updating existing regulatory frameworks to ensure safe production and application of recycled food-contact materials. FAO also said more research is needed on contaminants, exposure scenarios and traceability.
- “We want to recycle more plastic, but we also want to make sure that by solving one problem we don't create new problems,” said Corinna Hawkes, director of the Agrifood Systems and Food Safety Division at FAO, in a statement. “Food safety must be a central consideration in the transition towards more sustainable agrifood systems and food consumption patterns.”
Dive Insight:
Because of the especially complex considerations with food and beverage applications, some recycled plastic advocates have noted that there are many other secondary applications for PCR that businesses could focus on before considering putting PCR into food-contact packaging.
Nonetheless, the food sector is the largest user of single-use packaging, the report states, making it an important target for transformation. Recycled plastic in food and beverage applications has been a growing area of interest and study and recent years, especially as the impacts of microplastics on human health gain more attention.
“Microplastics are not unique to recycled plastics but are a possible outcome of physical plastic recycling practices,” the UN report notes.
In one example of recent research, a small study last year backed by the Alliance for Mission-Based Recycling found that recycled PET bottles consistently contained benzene. Additionally, organophosphates were more commonly found in recycled PET than in virgin PET, suggesting contamination occurred during the recycling process.
The EU has requirements that recycled materials meet the same safety and quality standards as virgin plastic, with the European Food Safety Authority responsible for verifying that recycling processes effectively reduce plastic contamination levels, the report states.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration’s approach involves issuing letters of no objection to companies that voluntarily submit information on the recycling process, results of contaminant testing and proposed uses of the plastic. FDA also issued recommendations on the use of recycled plastics in food packaging via a guidance document in 2021, but these are not legally enforceable responsibilities.
An FAO sub-group known as the Codex Alimentarius Commission — member nations focused on food standards — decided guidance on food safety considerations for recycled plastics would be beneficial and agreed to prepare a discussion paper for a meeting this October in Egypt. Guidance would potentially focus on “food safety aspects associated with the use of recycled plastics, particularly the potential for food contamination, and on their safe use in food packaging.”
