EFSA publishes opinion on bisphenol A
Monday 29 January 2007
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published its opinion today on the safety of the use of bisphenol A in food contact materials. These materials are used in some plastic bottles and the coatings used inside many cans.
The Agency welcomes the clarity provided by EFSA as there has been some scientific uncertainty about the low-dose effects of bisphenol A on human health. The report provides reassurance about the safety of bisphenol A at the levels that may be found in food.
In 2002, due to the scientific uncertainty around bisphenol A, the European Commission's Scientific Committee on Food reduced five fold the amount it considered could safely be eaten daily. This is the tolerable daily intake (TDI) level and is the daily amount that a person may eat over a lifetime without suffering any health effects.
This latest assessment by EFSA has concluded that this five fold reduction is no longer necessary and that the TDI can safely return to its original level of 0.05 milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight. EFSA have estimated that the amount of bisphenol A that people take in through their food (dietary exposure), including infants and children, is well below the new TDI.
The science behind the story
Bisphenol A is used in the resins that coat the inside of some food cans. The coating enables canned food to be heated to kill off bacteria without the metal in the can getting into the food.
The amount of bisphenol A legally permitted to migrate from food contact materials, such as packaging, into food - known as the specific migration limit - is based on the TDI. That migration level was also reduced in 2002 when the TDI was reduced. The European Commission will now decide, following the return of the TDI to its original level, whether to propose any change to the specific migration limit for bisphenol A. Any proposal would have to be agreed with EU Member States.