On 19 and 20 April 2018, EuPC with the support of Polymer Comply Europe held its annual Food Contact Plastics Seminar in Brussels. The seminar was attended by a broad spectrum of participants from the plastics food packaging industry, food industry, laboratories, and regulators. The theme of the seminar was Ensuring Safety of Products with panellists providing valuable insight into the current and future regulatory framework.

On the first day, the speakers gave their perspectives on topics such as the EU Plastics Strategy and its implications for the converting sector, the regulatory context of microplastics, latest developments on the Chinese food contact regulations. Also, both the food and drink industry as well as a major PET preforms converter presented their perspective on ensuring safety of products.

On the second day, EuPC presented their proposal for the future EU regulatory framework for food contact materials via Dario Dainelli, Chair of the Food Contact Regulatory Expert Panel. The European Commission (DG Santé) provided an update on their current activities on the evaluation of the framework regulation and the authorization decisions for recycling processes. JRC presented the common project with EuPC on NIAS screening. Other topics such as mineral oils, printing inks and repeated-use-articles were discussed as well.

Overall, the event proved to be an excellent opportunity for industry stakeholders to connect, exchange and gain insights on assessing and managing risks where plastics in food packaging are concerned.

More pictures are available in the EuPC Gallery.