Efsa weighs options for exposure scenarios

17 February 2012

Later in 2012, the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) will announce a significant revision of the guidelines for submitting petitions for food contact materials.

Exposure of infants to food contact material can be 10 times higher than the conservative assumptions used in the EU to assess chemical migrants from plastic packaging.

Efsa might decide that exposure of children to a substance in plastic milk containers and packaging for other aqueous foods is around four times higher than the current model.

Flavourings, Additives and Food Contact Materials Exposure Task, or Facet, will not be finished before the end of 2012. Then a couple of years, at least, will be needed for the approach to gain credibility.

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