Minutes of the FCMJEG 4th December 2024 meeting

Joint Expert Group on Food Contact Materials (JEGFCM) 

Meeting of the FCMJEG at 10:00 on 4th of December 2024 at Clive House, London (FSA Office), and Virtual via Microsoft Teams

Public Minutes

Present

Contents

Item 1: Welcome and Apologies    

1. The Chair welcomed all attendees to the meeting. Apologies were received from Dr Natalia Falagán 

Item 2: Conflict(s) of Interest  

2. The Chair reminded those attending the meeting to declare any commercial or other interests they might have in any of the agenda items. It is necessary to declare interests, as per the Code of Practice for Scientific Advisory Committees and Councils (CoPSAC, 2021). Members should ask themselves whether the public would reasonably consider that the interest in question might influence them (and thus their perceived independence). 

3. Dr Emma Bradley declared a personal specific interest for Item 6 on the agenda, whereby her employer was the contract research organisation (CRO) that completed analytical testing for the Applicant. Due to her position, she reviewed the studies as part of quality assurance. She was therefore excluded from the discussions. 

4. Dr Stuart Adams also declared a potential interest in Item 6, as he was working at the same CRO as Dr Bradley. However, it was confirmed that the Applicant was not a client at the same time as when Dr Adams was employed by the CRO. Therefore, it was decided that he was able to contribute to the discussions.  

Item 3: Matters arising  

5. The dossier update table with the overall progress of all FCM dossiers was presented to the FCMJEG Members. More detailed updates on the following dossiers/applications were given by the Secretariat: RP2229, RP2263 (discussed at this meeting), RP262, RP1415, RP1642, RP1898 and RP2147. The Group were also informed that RP1741 (discussed at this meeting) and RP1862, which are at the later stages of the risk assessment process i.e., Committee Advice Documents (CADs) that have been drafted have either been discussed or will be discussed by the parent committee; Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT). 

Item 4: Minutes of the last meeting – 2nd of October 2024  

6. The FCMJEG accepted the minutes as an accurate record of the meeting, subject to minor editorial changes.   

Item 5: Review of the draft Committee Advice Document (CAD) for a plastic recycling process (RP1741)  

7. The FCMJEG discussed the Committee Advice Document (CAD) for RP1741, which has been presented for review by the COT in October 2024 (TOX/2024/36 (Reserved)). At this meeting, the COT had commented on how the description of the input material was unclear. 

8. Editorial changes will be made as per the comments received from the Group in response to the comments received from the COT. The updated draft will be cleared by the COT Chair by Chair’s action and the FCMJEG dossier lead. 

Item 6: Assessment of an application for a plastic additive (RP2263)  

9. The FCMJEG discussed the new application RP2263, which is an application for a polymer film, which will in turn be used to manufacture food contact materials and articles. 

10. Following review of the data provided by the Applicant, an RFI will be drafted by the Secretariat which will be reviewed by the Group. 

Item 7: Toxicology training 

11. Following previous discussions on toxicology training sessions that would be provided by the toxicology experts for the other FCMJEG Members, the agenda allowed for part one of this session to be delivered during this meeting.  

12. Due to the conflicts of interest previously declared by Dr Emma Bradley (see paragraph 3) this item was moved earlier in the agenda and was presented after Item 4. 

13. An FCMJEG Member provided a general overview of the principles of risk assessment and toxicology, and testing requirements. In detail this included:  

• the difference between hazard and risk.  

• the regulatory requirements for placing food contact materials on the market in Great Britain, specifically Assimilated Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 on materials and articles intended to come into contact with food and Assimilated Regulation (EC) No 10/2011 on plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food (more details on the FSA website (FSA, 2024)). 

• Key EFSA guidance documents that can be followed (pre-UK exit from the EU) and different requirements according to exposure potential and; 

• General toxicity testing requirements.  

14. The Group found the session insightful and allowed them to have a better understanding of the topic. The Group thanked the FCMJEG speaker. 

Item 8: Any other business 

15. No other business was raised. The Chair thanked everyone for their efforts this year and wished all a great festive season and a Happy New Year. 

Item 9: Date of next meeting    

16. The next meeting will be on the 26th of February 2025. This will be a virtual meeting on Microsoft Teams.