BRUSSELS – The European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) has postponed by four months a long-awaited decision on whether plastics ingredient bisphenol A is safe in food contact packaging. Its anticipated July opinion will now be a draft and open for consultation until November.
Only then, after industry, consumers and governments have commented, will EFSA release a final opinion.
The issue is controversial, with EFSA having declared the chemical safe in 2006.
EFSA is considering the human health implications of "BPA-related effects observed in rodents at low-dose levels," said the agency.