BPA decision soon, says FDA

The food safety body had previously pledged to make its BPA review public by the 30 November - but has yet to do this.

In response to repeated requests from FoodProductionDaily.com to give a reason for the delay and set a new deadline, an agency spokeswoman said: “The announcement will be coming out soon. The report is being finalised.”​

The spokeswoman declined to make any comment on whether the FDA was still evaluating the large body research surrounding the chemical or if there was a debate within the organisation on its conclusions.

Review​

In June, the FDA announced it was to conduct a review on its position that the inclusion of BPA in polycarbonate baby bottles, children’s sippy cups and the epoxy linings of food cans posed no threat to human health. It said the decision would be reached in​weeks not months.​

In August, it said the review would be finished by the end of November. Two weeks before this deadline, an FDA spokesman told FoodProductionDaily.com that the agency would be “providing an update on the agency's position on BPA by November 30”.​ The agency has published no statement.

Green Century, which manages environmentally responsible mutual funds, has urged the FDA to quickly regulate the use of the chemical.

"The FDA's failure to produce a decision on BPA’s safety [today] signifies the agency’s continued inability to recognise the magnitude of existing sound independent scientific research on the chemical and spur a large-scale transition to BPA-free alternatives for food and beverage contact purposes,”​ said Emily Stone, an advocate for the group.

But the Grocery Manufacturers Association said that based on a review of scientific evidence, its members believed BPA was safe and backed the FDA's present stance that it could be used in food packaging.