FCM JEGs Minutes 10th April 2024

FCMJEG/2024/13 

Joint Expert Group on Food Contact Materials    

Meeting of the FCM JEG at 10:00 on 10^th April 2024 at Clive House London and online via MS TEAMS   

Public Minutes

Contents              

Interests   

1.             The Chair reminded those attending the meeting to declare any commercial or other interests they might have in any of the agenda items.   

Item 1: Welcome and Apologies        

2.             The Chair welcomed all attendees to the meeting and new observers from FSA Wales and Chris Rundle from Regulated Products risk assessment unit.    

3.             Apologies were received from Dr David Gott and Ms Azuka Aghadiuno.   

Item 2:             Matters arising   

4.             The Secretariat discussed the Dossier assignment list and provided an update on the overall progress of all current FCM dossiers including: RP1898, RP53, RP262, RP141, RP164, RP1741 and RP1862, RP45 and RP1702. An update was also provided on non-regulated product dossiers: TMBPF-DGE and ocean-bound plastics (OBP). 

5.             The Secretariat agreed that the amendments to the draft safety advice document for RP53 would be circulated via email to the FCM JEG.  

RP1190

6.             Members agreed with the Applicant’s request for minor changes to wording in the safety advice document for RP1190 regarding the inclusion of HEMAP in the kitchen countertop in the public FSA/FSS safety advice document. The JEG also agreed with using the term “monomer” rather than “component” when referring to HEMAP.  

7.             Policy colleagues agreed with the confidentiality points raised by the Applicant.  

8.             The JEG was asked if they could recommend a specific migration limit (SML) for HEMAP, as EFSA has done following their assessment of the product. Members discussed looking at EFSA’s method to arrive at the SML of 0.05 mg/kg to see if Members agreed with what EFSA calculated.  

9.             Secretariat to organise a meeting the W/C 22^nd April 2024 to discuss the recommended SML. 

RP262

10.          The Group have previously sent a ‘Request for Information’ (RFI) letter to the Applicant in December 2021. The Applicant sought clarification on the additional information requested.  

11.          This response was reviewed by the Group. A response to the Applicant will be drafted by the Secretariat for consideration prior to responding to the Applicant. 

12.          Members discussed the applicant’s responses to the RP262 request for further information RFI.  

Item 3: Minutes of the last meeting – February 2024  

13.     The FCM JEG suggested minor editorial changes.

14.          Overall, Members accepted the public minutes as an accurate record of the meeting.  

Item 4-5: Assessment of a plastic additive (RP2147)  

15.          Dr Gill Clare declared a personal non-specific interest as she does work for Labcorp, who have taken over Covance, for whom she also worked.  Some of the genetic toxicology studies were carried out in the facilities. She confirmed that she was not directly involved in the studies.

16.          As Dr Clare has a personal non-specific interest in the item, the Group agreed that she should not be assigned to lead on this dossier. She was able to take part in the discussion.

17.          An application has been submitted to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) requesting the evaluation of the safety of chopped carbon fibre (CCF) for use as a filler in the manufacture of polyether ether ketone (PEEK) plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food.    

18.          The FCM JEG was asked to review this application and advise on whether the available data provides an adequate basis for a safety evaluation of CCF at up to 40% in the manufacture of polyether ether ketone (PEEK) plastics.  

19.          The Applicant has provided concentration levels of metals detected in the fibres.

20.          The Applicant provided data and images to demonstrate that nanomaterial was not present in the chopped carbon fibre. The Group were satisfied that this data did not show evidence of nanomaterial. 

21.          The Group discussed the information provided by the applicant on the sizing polymer and agreed that further evaluation of this information would be necessary if it is to be included in the assessment. This includes the NMR data and IUPAC nomenclature.  

22.          The Group then went on to discuss the toxicological data which was provided by the applicant.  

23.          The data provided from the in vivo assays had no toxicologically significant observations. 

24.          Based on the toxicological testing carried out the Group concluded that even though access to cellular tissue is unlikely, sufficient testing has been carried out to determine lack of toxicity, depending on how closely the milled carbon fibre mirrored the final product.   

25.          The Group concluded that for this dossier that they would wait for clarification from policy on whether they were assessing the sizing or not, and that there are points which they would like further clarification on with an RFI. 

Item 6: Assessment of the additional information for a recycling process (RP1741)  

26.          No conflicts of interest were declared. 

27.          The FCMJEG reviewed the additional information provided by the Applicant in response to a RFI letter sent by the JEG  

28.          The FCMJEG noted the Applicant’s response regarding the units for intrinsic viscosity.

29.          The FCMJEG concluded that the additional information satisfied the RFI request. The Group acknowledged that an additional piece of information was yet to be received and, in the interim, the Secretariat will prepare the first draft of the safety assessment and present this to the FCMJEG at the next possible meeting.     

Item 7: Assessment of the additional information for a recycling process (RP1862) 

30.          No conflicts of interest were declared by the FCMJEG.  

31.          The Group have previously sent a ‘Request for Information’ (RFI) letter to the Applicant in October 2023. The Applicant provided the requested information, which the Group reviewed during this meeting.  

32.          They concluded that the additional information provided was satisfactory and the safety advice document can be drafted. 

Item 9: Any Other Business   

33.          Members were informed that a meeting will be held on the 22^nd April 2024 to discuss the addition of recommendation for specific migration limit (SML to be added to the safety advice document for the application RP1190.   

Date of next meeting  

34.          The next meeting will be on the 29^th of May 2024.