On January 21, 2015, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) released its final report on BPA safety titled “Scientific opinion on the risks to public health related to the presence of bisphenol A (BPA) in foodstuffs.” The report was prepared by EFSA’s expert panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids.
Based on a comprehensive re-evaluation of BPA exposure and toxicity, EFSA’s scientific experts concluded in the final report that “there is no health concern for any age group from dietary exposure and low health concern from aggregated exposure.”
Going beyond previous assessments, EFSA evaluated exposure to BPA not only from food, but also from a range of other potential sources. EFSA further explained that to be as open and transparent as possible, it thoroughly consulted and engaged with national authorities and stakeholders during this risk assessment to ensure that the widest possible range of scientific views and information were considered.
The safe exposure limit for BPA, known as a Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI), was conservatively set to include uncertainties about potential health effects of BPA. It is anticipated that EFSA will revisit the TDI to incorporate results from ongoing research being conducted by the U.S. National Toxicology Program and the FDA.
Notably, to address a controversial claim that BPA can cause health effects at very low doses, EFSA’s experts established scientific criteria to evaluate studies that reported unexpected responses at low doses. Based on these criteria, the experts concluded that “the available data do not provide evidence that BPA results in non-monotonic dose-response relationships.”
EFSA has also conducted prior assessments on BPA, with similar findings.
In January 2007, the EFSA released a comprehensive scientific assessment of BPA that was conducted by a panel of independent scientific experts. In July and October 2008 and in September 2010, EFSA reviewed new studies and confirmed its position that BPA-based polycarbonate and epoxy food contact materials can continue to be safely used.