“Rather than continuing to modify the 35-year-old 510(k) process… FDA’s finite resources would be better invested in developing an integrated premarket and post-market regulatory framework that provides a reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness throughout the device life cycle,” concludes advisory report from Institute of Medicine to FDA.

“FDA believes that the 510(k) process should not be eliminated,” says Jeffrey Shuren, M.D., J.D., honcho of  FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), “but,” he adds, “ we are open to additional proposals and approaches for continued improvement of our device review programs” .

PepsiCo is working on the 2012 debut of a PET bottle made entirely of botanical feedstocks such as switch grass, orange peels and potato peels, the latter two being byproducts of the company’s Tropicana orange juice production and Lays potato chips, made and marketed by Pepsi’s Frito-Lay operations.

Here’s how Pepsi posted its news earlier today:

http://www.smartplanet.com/business/blog/business-brains/new-battleground-in-beverage-wars-sustainable-packaging/14313/

Regards,

Ben Miyares

Cereal boxes cause cancer? Health authorities are downplaying European press reports to that effect after Swiss researchers found mineral oil in some recycled paperboard cartons. Researchers found “that the limit considered safe for mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons (MOSH) (0.6 mg/kg), as set by the FAO/WHO Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives, was ‘frequently exceeded’ by a factor of 10-100.” But, says the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK, saying that cereal boxes cause cancer “is jumping to conclusions the researchers haven’t made.”

A couple of links you may want to check out…

Ben Miyares

http://genevalunch.com/blog/2011/03/10/cereal-box-cancer-link-reports-underscore-lack-of-information-update/

http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/recycled-cereal-boxes-linked-cancer-not-concern-us-consumers-1435/

Tesco, the British supermarket chain, is adopting the Zork resealable low-density polyethylene closure for some of its wines.  Contrary to what the following report indicates, the resealable closure has been used outside of Australia before this. Several California wines – and at least one premium olive oil, Regina brand, use the tamper-evident closure.  Zork Pty, Adelaide, Australia, specializes in closure development and marketing for still wines, sparkling wines and spirits.

Continues…

Reports continue to circulate that one or the other company has developed a protective coating for can linings that doesn’t incorporate bisphenol A.

The latest dispatch comes from foodproductiondaily.com (below).

The developer they’ve ID’d is Jacksonville, FL-based Design Analysis Inc. (Link below) The company is marketing a polymer coating it believes “is an environmentally-friendly and, in most cases, a lower-cost alternative to epoxy linings.”

Bisphenol A-free polymer coating touted as alternative to epoxy can lining

http://www.danalysis.com/design_analysis_inc3.htm

No official word yet on whether canmakers are forming a line outside Design Analysis’ office.

Regards,

Ben Miyares

Packaging Management Institute

“An Alliance of Sustainable Packaging Interests”

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a constituent in epoxy coatings used as liners for food and beverage cans and some metal closures. While BPA has been used safely for 50 years or so, it has recently come under fire as a possible endocrine disruptor. A handful of municipalities and states are considering bans/restrictions on the use of BPA in packaging.

Recent reports suggesting that Canada had – or was about to – ban or restrict the use of BPA in packaging, prompted us to seek clarification from the Packaging Association (PAC) in Canada.

Ben Miyares

Packaging Management Institute

“An Alliance of Sustainable Packaging Interests”

In response to my inquiries, Jim Downham, President/CEO of PAC, sent the following response:

Ben,

This is what Larry Dworkin, PAC Director of Government Affairs, has to say about BPA.

“While Environment Canada has added bisphenol A (BPA) to its toxic register, so far, Health Canada has not followed suit. As of Aug. 26, Health Canada has only issued a BPA warning with respect to exposure from food packaging applications to infants and newborns, specifically from pre-packaged infant formula products.

Health Canada is hosting a meeting Nov. 2-5 with representatives of the World Health Organization, U.S. FDA to review toxicological and health aspects about BPA.  To date, based on studies from the U.S., European Union and Japan, Health Canada’s Food Directorate has concluded that the current dietary exposure to BPA through food packaging is not expected to pose a health risk to the general population, including newborn infants.”

Let me know if we can be of any further service.

Columbus, Ohio hospital study finds that 40% of children admitted to ERs with injuries from household cleaning products are traceable to products in non-child resistant bottles, sprayers. Data such as that developed by Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, OH, has, in the past, prompted the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to issue regulations requiring child-resistant packaging for “toxic household substances.” Cleveland Plain Dealer put the story, by Diane Suchetka, consumer health reporter, on page 1 of its Monday, August 2, issue. Read her story at:

http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2010/08/spray_bottles_responsible_for.html

Supermarketnews.com reports that Wegmans Food Markets is doing something with a private label that it’s never done before: calling out the product’s manufacturer on packaging.

The retailer decided to add the name of family-owned Gottlieber Spezialitäten AG to the label of its new Wegmans Brand Swiss Crepes since it has a strong reputation for quality. The company is a gold medal winner with the Exposition of Swiss Tourism in International Culinary Art.