Half baked: EU food packaging laws need a rethink to keep consumers safe

The global pandemic – and increased time spent at home – led many consumers to re-discover simple pleasures – such as home cooking and baking. Silicone baking moulds are a widely popular, often in-expensive alternative to metal forms, due in part to their non-stick properties, durability, and heat-resistance. Silicone is however not inert and may inadvertently add ‘chemical ingredients’ to cakes and other baked goods that consumers neither expect – nor want.

New findings by nine BEUC members thus document how silicone baking moulds can release chemical contaminants when used in contact with fatty or oily foods. In total, 23% of sampled products were found to release their chemical constituents either in high or increasing amounts, suggesting that products are not suitable for repeated use. In addition, the analysis detected substances of concern (1) in 82% of samples, albeit at low levels. Several products finally missed adequate use instructions, often displayed exclusively through obscure pictograms.

Unlike plastic materials, no detailed EU rules exist to ensure that silicone products meant for food contact are safe for consumers. These new findings highlight that the EU must act now to improve consumer protection. This fact is also recognised in the 2020 Farm to Fork Strategy in which the European Commission commits to revise EU food packaging legislation to improve food safety and public health. 

(1) Such as suspected endocrine disruptors, or substances classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic
under EU chemicals legislation