EUROPEAN UNION - Fifteen organizations from around the globe have joined forces to form the Alliance for Sustainable Packaging for Foods (ASPF) and engage with regulators, governments, researchers, and civil society organizations to ensure that food packaging regulations achieve environmental sustainability.

Recently, the alliance, which includes the International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA), applauded the science- and data-driven approach that the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) has undertaken to conduct a life cycle analysis of reusable and single-use packaging for certain consumer uses including food applications.

This data-driven method can serve as an example for approaching regulatory decision-making when environmental trade-offs are considered, a release explained. However, the organization also noted that the JRC Life Cycle Analysis omitted considerations of food loss and waste.

“Publication after publication highlights the fact that studies of the environmental impact of packaging often overlook the environmental footprint of food that is lost or wasted due to inadequate packaging,” the organization explained in a statement. “In fact, the totality of the environmental footprint of lost or wasted food due to inadequate packaging can be greater than the impact of packaging itself. Much harder to quantify is the impact of packaging on ensuring food safety.”

ASPF summarized dozens of peer-reviewed studies in its position paper to highlight the critical relationship between packaging and food safety. It encourages regulators to consider technologies that offer alternatives to packaging, such as functional Price-Look-Up (PLU) stickers.

“The Alliance contends that food loss and waste, alternate technologies, and food safety should be considered within the context of future EU packaging and packaging waste rules to ensure well-intentioned efforts to rid the planet of single-use packaging waste do not risk the health and safety of European consumers,” ASPF continued. “This is one of the reasons why ASPF urges the EU legislator to carefully consider food safety and food quality considerations for packaging of unprocessed fruits and vegetables under 1.5 kilos and to maintain (until alternatives are found) the use of all functional stickers as they eliminate the need for packaging.”

Furthermore, ASPF urges that the legislation ensure food safety aspects are considered when adopting rules on the minimum recycled content for packaging that comes in contact with foods.

To read the statement in its entirety, click here.

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