Scientific Opinion on safety assessment of the active substance, polyacrylic acid, sodium salt, crosslinked, for use in active food contact materials

This scientific opinion of the EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids deals with the safety assessment of the polyacrylic acid, sodium salt, crosslinked, FCM substance No 1015, which is intended to be used as a liquid absorber in the packaging of fresh or frozen foods such as meat, poultry, and seafood as well as fresh fruits and vegetables. Specific migration tests were not performed due to the high absorption of liquids by the substance. The Panel noted that if polyacrylic acid, sodium salt, crosslinked, is used not in direct contact with food placed in a pad under conditions where its absorption capacity is not exceeded, then no migration is to be expected and therefore no exposure from the consumption of the packed food is expected. The Panel also considered that non-crosslinked polymer and the crosslinker do not raise a concern for genotoxicity. The CEF Panel concluded that the use of the substance polyacrylic acid, sodium salt, crosslinked, does not raise a safety concern when used in absorbent pads in the packaging of fresh or frozen meat foods poultry, and seafood as well as fresh fruits and vegetables. The absorbent pads must be used only under conditions in which the liquid absorption capacity is not exceeded and direct contact between the substance and the food is excluded

Safety assessment of the process ‘EREMA Recycling (MPR, Basic and Advanced technologies)’, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials

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Safety assessment of the process ‘Plastienvase’, based on EREMA Basic technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials

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Safety assessment of the process ‘PEGRA-V’, based on Starlinger IV+® technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials

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Safety assessment of the process ‘Alimpet’, based on EREMA MPR technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials

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Safety assessment of the process ‘Märkische Faser’, based on NGR technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials

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Safety assessment of the process ‘Veroniki Ecogrup SRL’, based on Starlinger Decon technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials

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Safety assessment of the process ‘4PET’, based on EREMA Basic technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials

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Safety assessment of the process ‘Coexpan Deutschland’, based on EREMA Basic technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials

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Impacts of temporal CO2 and climate trends on the detection of ocean anthropogenic CO2 accumulation

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2011. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Global Biogeochemical Cycles 25 (2011): GB3023, doi:10.1029/2010GB004009.A common approach for estimating the oceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (Canthro) depends on the linear approximation of oceanic dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) from a suite of physical and biological ocean parameters. The extended multiple linear regression (eMLR) method assumes that baseline correlations and the resulting residual fields will remain constant with time even under the influence of secular climate changes. The validity of these assumptions over the 21st century is tested using a coupled carbon-climate model. Findings demonstrate that the influence of both changing climate and changing chemistry beyond 2–4 decades invalidates the assumption that the residual fields will remain constant resulting in significant errors in the eMLR estimate of Canthro. This study determines that the eMLR method is unable to describe Canthro uptake for a sampling interval of greater than 30 years if the error is to remain below 20% for many regions in the Southern Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and western Pacific Ocean. These results suggest that, for many regions of the ocean basins, hydrographic field investigations have to be repeated at approximately decadal timescales in order to accurately predict the uptake of Canthro by the ocean if the eMLR method is used.This work was supported by NOAA grant NA07OAR4310098 (SCD and RW) and funding from the University of Hong Kong (NFG)