Paper box chemicals are no longer considered safe for food contact: FDA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has announced it plans to publish a final ruling banning three chemicals used in pizza boxes and other food packaging.
In response to a petition filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Center for Food Safety, the Breast Cancer Fund, the Center for Environmental Health, Clean Water Action, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Children’s Environmental Health Network, Environmental Working Group, and Improving Kids’ Environment, the FDA said it has planned to ban three specific perfluoroalkyl ethyl types.
Perfluoroalkyl ethyl is a chemical used in food contact substances, that acts as an oil and water repellent for paper and paper boards, which comes in contact with oily and fatty foods. New data is available that shows the toxicity of chemicals similar to these compounds that demonstrate there is no longer a reasonable certainty of no harm from the food-contact use of these FCSs, as per sources.
Erik Olsen, director of the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) health program, had praised the FDA action on this issue stating, “The FDA’s ban is an important first step but just a first step towards improving the safety of our food supply. Now it should act on our petition to ban the seven other chemicals we believe and government agencies such as the toxicology program at the National Institutes of Health have found to cause cancer,”.
The USFDA says the the final rule will take effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, while the process also involves filing of objections and demands for a public hearing.