The organisers, Summit Publishing, said that presenters at the Packaging Law Forum will include nationally recognised experts, including individuals from the Food and Drug Administration, the Illinois Department of Public Health and leading intellectual property rights lawyers.
Proceedings will be led by packaging lawyer Eric Greenberg, the organisers said.
Nanotechnology
The seminar organisers say that the emerging field of nanotechnology has already provided useful applications for food and beverage packaging as well as food ingredients.
However, the unique physical and chemical properties of nanoparticles challenge the legal and regulatory framework governing food contact materials.
This presentation will summarise the emerging technology and the ways in which some companies are addressing the question of the adequacy of the present legal framework to address safety issues.
FDA initiatives to ensure food safety
Discussion will focus on the agency's efforts to assure that imported and domestic food is legally safe. The presentation will note that the FDA's Food Protection Plan, launched in November 2007, is only one of many efforts to safeguard the country's food supply.
The FDA says that the Food Protection Plan operates through a set of integrated strategies that focus on risk over a product's life cycle, target resources to achieve maximum risk reduction, address unintentional and deliberate contamination and use science and modern technology systems. There are three elements of protection; prevention of foodborne contamination, intervention at critical points in the food supply chain and rapid response to minimise harm.
The safety of the US food supply has been called into question following a number of recalls, most recently the recall in February of over 143,000,000 pounds of raw and frozen beef by a California meat processor. There were fears that crippled cattle entering the food supply could increase the risk of human exposure to Mad Cow Disease and other pathogens.
There will be a separate presentation on recalls.
Sustainability
Discussions in this area will include consideration of developments on the environmental front affecting food packaging, including trends in materials bans and the latest sustainability programmes.
Proposed climate change legislation at federal level includes America's Climate Security Act of 2007 which is due to be debated in Senate later this year. The bill is projected to reduce total US greenhouse-gas emissions by as much as 19 per cent below the 2005 level in 2020 and by as much as 63 per cent below the 2005 level in 2050.
Food contact materials development
The Food Contact Notification Program has recently been under budgetary threat and has been refined by changes in FDA recommendations. Discussion will focus on how the program has been adjusted and its prospects for the future.
FDA established the Division of Food Contact Notification and Review to ensure components of food contact articles , including food packaging and processing equipment, are safe for their intended use. Food contact substances (FCSs) typically include coatings, plastics, paper, adhesives, colorants, antimicrobials, and antioxidants.
The Packaging Law Forum will be held at the University of Chicago's Gleacher Center on 17 June 2008.
For further information, see www.packaginglawforum.com
