Bisphenol-A, the never ending debate

By 16. March 2014Blog

Bisphenol-A or BPA has been the cause of great many debates about food packaging in the last few years.

We reported back in November 2011 about a publication that said high levels were detected in the urine of people after ingesting a soup from a standard BPA lined tin. Critics of the paper pointed out that that was because it is expelled from the body very quickly and not a cause for concern. However, Canada and Europe banned it in baby feeding bottles and the health effects of BPA have been an ongoing matter for debate.

In August last year we reported on a paper that claimed a link between BPA concentration in urine and obesity in children.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has been reviewing the safety of BPA and have recommended to lower the current tolerable daily intake. This draft option was commented on by the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment who ‘considered the EFSA draft opinion to be an impressive document, and generally agreed with the conclusions’.

There is currently a long term study taking place in the states and the EFSA recommends temporarily reducing the allowed BPA until this data is in.

The press release can be read on the FSA website.

Click here to read more about BPA from the EFSA website.