Principles that could be applicable to the safety assessment of the use of mixtures of natural origin to manufacture food contact materials

This report describes work to establish principles and procedures that could be applicable to the safety assessment of the use of mixtures of natural origin in the manufacture of food contact materials (FCM). There is increasing interest in the use of substances obtained from renewable biological resources (non‐fossil) to manufacture materials and articles intended for food contact. They may be single substances or simple well‐defined mixtures, but more commonly they are complex mixtures with a substantial fraction that is uncharacterised. The source materials are plant biomass and (to a lesser degree) animal biomass. Natural compounds and/or complex mixtures are assessed in several sectors under the EFSA remit dealing with regulated chemicals, including novel foods, food enzymes, botanicals, food and feed additives, food flavours and FCM. These sectors have been consulted to learn from their experience. Waiving part of the data requirements for substances derived from edible food sources (e.g. food as such or the non‐eaten parts, and or food ingredients) seems acceptable. Substances that migrate and give rise to concern (based on their chemical, physical or toxicological properties), but are already present in the diet, should not be (re‐)evaluated, but rather, their exposure from FCMs should be compared with that from the diet. All other components and impurities in the mixture, should be assessed using the established FCM guidelines and cross‐cutting EFSA guidance documents. The report concludes with recommendations on several topics that have a cross‐cutting character and which may benefit from further considerations and developments by the EFSA Scientific Committee.