FDA updates guidance on recycled plastics in food packaging

According to an alert from the law firm Steptoe, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an update to its 2006 guidance document addressing the use of recycled plastics in food packaging July 15.

The law firm says the update is primarily administrative in nature, “with revisions intended to address information related to the Paperwork Reduction Act and other ‘nonsubstantive’ editorial and formatting matters, such as the addition of a Table of Contents and updates to various links found within the document.” Steptoe adds, “Unfortunately, it does not provide updated guidance on current matters of widespread interest, such as tertiary recycling of polymers other than polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), recently developed tertiary recycling processes and special issues faced by recyclers of plastics other than PET.”

The law firm says the FDA has acknowledged the need to develop a substantive update to the guidance document. “We understand, however, that this effort is still in relatively early stages. In the meantime, the guidance continues to contain a recommended protocol for developing chemistry data for evaluating the adequacy of a recycling process to remove chemical contaminants, which industry has come to rely upon in determining that the use of recycled plastics in the manufacture of food contact materials and articles is safe and suitable.”

Steptoe notes that the recent update invites industry to contact the FDA to discuss alternative approaches to those discussed in the existing guidance, adding that such discussions likely would help the FDA develop updated recommendations, particularly for postconsumer recycled resins that have not been used as widely in food-contact applications.

The final guidance document can be accessed here.