FDA Announces Decisions on Perchlorate in Food Seals, Packaging
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) denied a citizen petition to ban the use of perchlorates in dry food packaging while revoking regulations permitting the use of potassium perchlorate in food-container seals, saying industry makers no longer use the chemical.
FDA said it will amend food additive regulations allowing the use of potassium perchlorate as a component in sealing gaskets for food containers. Trade groups petitioned for the change, arguing that plastics manufacturers have stopped using the compound.
The following day, FDA rejected a petition from public interest groups seeking to ban use of potassium perchlorate and sodium perchlorate monohydrate in dry food packaging and requesting that the agency issue new regulations prohibiting use of perchlorates in packaging. Neither request was “the proper subject of a food additive petition,” the agency stated, but the groups could petition to revoke or reevaluate the Threshold of Regulation exemption.
Issue 633
