Jul 29th, 2025
2 mins
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Panel on Food Contact Materials (FCM) has published a Scientific Opinion on the risks to public health from styrene present in plastic food contact materials.
EFSA was requested by the European Commission to re‐evaluate the potential genotoxicity of styrene after oral exposure and its safety for use in plastic FCM with a specific migration limit (SML) of 40 μg/kg food.
A rigorous assessment of the in vivo genotoxicity studies (i) provided by third parties, (ii) identified by a targeted literature search and (iii) reported in the 2019 IARC Monograph was performed. All studies were assessed for reliability and relevance and the results integrated in the weight of evidence.
The Panel concluded that there was no evidence that styrene is genotoxic following oral exposure. For substances demonstrated to be non‐genotoxic (according to the EFSA Note for Guidance for FCM) a specific migration limit (SML) up to 50 μg/kg food would not be of safety concern. Consequently, the use of styrene in the manufacture of food contact materials respecting the SML of 40 μg/kg food proposed by the European Commission is not of safety concern.
The Scientific opinion can be accessed in full here.
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