As a long-established partner to food brands across multiple sectors, at Parkside, our customers rely on us to stay ahead of the regulatory curve, not just react to it.
That means our technical team is constantly engaging with the industry: at seminars, with standards bodies, and across the supply chain, building the knowledge that helps our customers make confident, compliant packaging decisions.
It is exactly that commitment that took our Technical Manager, Mark Shaw, to the 19th Annual EU Food Packaging Law Seminar run by Keller & Heckman earlier this year. He came back with a clear message: the regulatory landscape for food contact packaging is not just changing, it is accelerating.
The seminar, which brings together some of the sharpest regulatory minds in the food packaging industry, covered the full spectrum of food contact compliance, from EU legislation updates and documentation best practice to the latest developments on PFAS and BPA.
Here, we share the key takeaways that we believe every brand owner and packaging buyer should have on their radar right now.
Regulatory pressure is tightening on every front
This is not a European story alone. The EU, US, UK, and key Asian markets are all moving in the same direction, with tightening rules on food contact materials, chemical substances, recycled content, and sustainability performance.
For food brands and their packaging partners, that means greater testing obligations, more rigorous documentation, and closer scrutiny of suppliers throughout the supply chain. The question is not whether brands will need to respond, but how prepared they will be when the deadlines arrive. Parkside’s technical team monitors these developments continuously, so our customers are never caught off guard.
EU food contact rules are entering a new phase
The 19th Amendment to EU food contact legislation introduces stricter purity standards and significantly expanded requirements around Non-Intentionally Added Substances (NIAS). Full end-to-end traceability and supply chain transparency are becoming the rule, rather than exception.
Functional barriers, which have historically been used to manage migration risks in multilayer packaging, now face substantial limitations. There will be no tolerance for substances classified as CMR (carcinogenic, mutagenic, or reprotoxic) or nanomaterials behind a functional barrier, and overall migration limits are set at less than 10 ppb.
For brand owners working with complex laminate structures, this will require a serious review of material specifications. Parkside works directly with customers on material specification and Declaration of Compliance documentation, ensuring that as these requirements tighten, the right processes are already in place.
BPA, PFAS, and endocrine disruptors: the highest-risk categories
BPA is now effectively banned from food contact applications from 2025, with a residual limit of just 1 ppb. PFAS, the broad class of ‘forever chemicals’, will be banned in EU food packaging from August 2026, with a universal PFAS ban under REACH also progressing.
Alongside these substance-specific bans, new EU hazard classifications for endocrine disruptors will affect a wider range of substances than many brands currently anticipate. If your packaging supply chain has not been audited for endocrine-disrupting chemicals, now is the time to start. Declaration of Compliance (DoC) documents need to reflect these changes accurately, and they need to be verifiable.
Recycled plastics: a high-compliance, high-risk area
The drive to increase recycled content in packaging is clear and consistent. However, the compliance burden attached to recycled plastics, and particularly for food contact applications, is significant. EU Regulation 2022/1616 requires authorised PET recycling processes, validated decontamination technology, and regular audits. Non-EU recycling sources face considerable barriers, and the Chinese market effectively prohibits recycled plastic in food contact applications altogether.
For brands relying on recycled content to meet sustainability commitments or regulatory thresholds, supply security is already becoming a genuine business risk. Parkside has done the groundwork on sourcing and validating compliant recycled content, meaning our customers can pursue their recycled content ambitions without having to navigate this complex landscape alone. Engaging compliant, audited sources now, rather than scrambling when mandates kick in, is the more strategic position.
PPWR will reshape packaging decisions across the board
The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) continues to be one of the most significant pieces of packaging legislation in a generation. The requirements that will flow from it include mandatory recyclability performance grades, recycled content obligations, PFAS restrictions, and harmonised waste sorting labels, rolling out between 2026 and 2028. New EPR fees and restrictions on single-use formats will also change the economics of packaging decisions for many businesses.
These changes are extremely pressing. Deadlines will arrive imminently, and packaging redesign, material selection, and supply chain decisions can all have long lead times. Parkside is already designing to PPWR recyclability grades, so brands that partner with us are ahead of the curve, not racing to catch up. Businesses that are waiting for finalised guidance before acting risk running out of road.
‘Green’ claims are under the microscope
Alongside the technical compliance picture, marketing and labelling claims are facing their own regulatory tightening. The reason is simple; distorted or exaggerated sustainability claims, or ‘greenwashing’, risk eroding consumer trust. By restricting what business can and cannot say, the goal is to bring more clarity and transparency to the language of sustainability.
Generic claims such as ‘eco-friendly’, ‘green’ or ‘sustainable’ are prohibited unless backed by verified certification. These changes are covered by both the UK’s Green Claims Code (GCC), and the EU Green Claims Directive (GCD). Product-level carbon neutral and carbon offset claims are banned, and future environmental commitments must be relevant, measurable, fair, and independently verified to be permissible.
What leaders should be prioritising now
Across the seminar’s sessions, a consistent set of priorities emerged for businesses that want to stay ahead of the sustainability curve.
- Secure compliant recycled plastic supply now, before demand outstrips availability.
- Audit your supplier base for PFAS, BPA, endocrine disruptors, and NIAS and check the quality of their Declarations of Compliance.
- Begin preparing for PPWR packaging redesign and labelling requirements.
- Strengthen your documentation systems, GMP practices, and digital traceability.
- And perhaps most importantly: treat chemical and packaging compliance as a strategic investment, not a cost centre.
The window to act strategically is now
The next three to five years will see the largest regulatory shift in food contact materials and packaging compliance in decades. The businesses that move early, particularly on PFAS, BPA, NIAS capability, recycled plastics, and PPWR readiness, will be the ones that avoid disruption, control their costs, and build a genuine competitive advantage.
At Parkside, we work closely with our customers and suppliers to navigate exactly these kinds of changes.
From material specification and compliance documentation through to packaging redesign and supply chain guidance, our experienced technical team is here to help you stay ahead, rather than just compliant. Click here to get in touch today.
