Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) continue to advise consumers not to use plastic containers or utensils containing bamboo and other unauthorised plant-based materials. Businesses are reminded not to sell such products as they are non-compliant with legislation and come with safety concerns.

The advice comes after the FSA and FSS told the industry in May 2022 to stop selling food contact materials containing bamboo and similar unauthorised plant-based materials such as rice husks, wheat straw and hemp and called for evidence to assess the long-term safety of these products. 

The Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) have now considered the new data submitted to the FSA and FSS and found that there is insufficient evidence to conclude that these products are safe and there remains concerns over the impact on health from long-term use.  

Therefore, the FSA and FSS have taken the decision to continue to require industry to remove them from sale and advise consumers who may still have them at home to not use them for food-related purposes.  

The COT concluded that, the presence of bamboo and similar plant-based matter in plastic materials can result in formaldehyde and melamine leaking into food or drink products above the legal limit, which is unsafe for consumers.  

Formaldehyde is naturally produced by the body but when ingested at high levels can lead to gastrointestinal symptoms. While melamine consumed in the short-term has low acute toxicity, long-term exposure at high levels can result in kidney damage and damage to the urinary tract.  

Whilst it is very unlikely that the short-term use of these products would result in an immediate risk to health, the FSA and FSS recommends reducing exposure to these products as the long-term impacts from regular use of these items remains unclear.  

Therefore, the FSA and FSS are advising that these products should remain unavailable for sale in Great Britain (GB) and people should dispose of them or repurpose if they still have them in their homes.  

In Northern Ireland, these products have already been prohibited for sale as a food contact material, following the European Commission Food Contact Material legislation and businesses continue to comply with this ruling.  

The advice does not apply to items made solely from bamboo or plant-based materials, only those products which use a combination of plastic and plant-based materials. Businesses are being asked to take care to check that any bamboo or similar-plant products remaining on the market do not contain any plastic components.