The Commission said it would make the proposal to the member states as an implementing measure to the current EU regulation on food contact materials (IP/03/1554). This means the regulation would come into force without having to go through a vote of approval by the bloc's Parliament and Council.
The proposal marks the Commission's response to the controversy generated last month after a printing chemical from a Tetra Pak package was found to have migrated into a Nestlé milk product for babies.
Philip Tod, the Commission spokesperson for health and consumers protection, said the regulation would require companies to follow good manufacturing practice in relation to chemicals used on the outside of a package.
"All companies would be required to change their production methods so that is no possibility of ink or other chemical printing substances on the outside of a package being found on the inside," he told FoodProductionDaily.com.
Earlier this month the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said scientific evidence indicates that the presence of the chemical, isopropylthioxanthone (ITX), in packaged foods does not pose a health risk.
EFSA opened its scientific investigation into ITX and related chemical 2-ethylhexyl-4-dimethylaminobenzoate (EHDAB) after traces of the ink products were found by Italy's regulators in Nestlé's baby milk products.
EFSA said that the presence of ITX in food, whilst undesirable, does not raise health concerns at the levels reported. EFSA's advice supported the position taken by the commission and member states in the bloc's standing committee on the food chain and animal Health (SCFCAH).
The bodies said on 30 November 2005 that no urgent measure was necessary with regard to ITX in baby milk and other products.
Italy's food safety regulators detected ITX in some batches of the Nestlé's products in September. The packaging was produced by Sweden-based Tetra Pak.
The ink curing agent was found to have migrated through the packaging and into the milk.
Tetra Pak stopped using ITX in the packing for the affected Nestlé products in October after being informed of the problem. The company is also phasing out the use of ITX in other fatty liquid products and for some juices.
The resulting controversy led to claims and counterclaims about the safety of the chemical by the Italian government, consumer groups, Nestlé and Tetra Pak.
ITX then hit the headlines in November after Italian authorities confiscated millions of litres of Nestlé baby milk and got a court order to force the company into recalling about two million litres of its Nidina and Latte Mio brands in Italy. Nestlé extended the recall to France, Spain and Portugal. Dutch group Numico was also involved in recalling some of its products.
Italy had originally informed the European Commission rapid alert system about the ITX problem in September. However, regulators were unhappy that there was still some product left on the shelves and under a court application got a Italian judge to demand the Nestlé recall.
In its original statement on ITX on 24 November, EFSA said: "On the basis of the very limited data available today, the presence of ITX in food could be considered undesirable but it is not likely to present a health risk at the levels reported."
The European Commission had asked the agency to make further scientific studies into ITX following a request by the Italian government.
ITX is not prohibited for use in food packaging by the EU, the EFSA said in its report. It is also not listed on the World Health Organisation's prohibited list.
The issue over ITX highlights the uncertainty surrounding current legislation in the EU over the food industry's use of packaging chemicals, a problem that is meant to be fixed under a proposed directive on the registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals (Reach), approved by the bloc's parliament earlier this month.
Currently the EU relies on a negative list to regulate the use of chemicals. This means any chemical not on the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) blacklist can normally be used for packaging food.
In a 24 November 2004 patent application in the US, Sun Chemical noted: "In recent years, thioxanthone derivatives, particularly isopropylthioxanthone (ITX) and diethylthioxanthone, have been extensively used in UV curable printing ink applications. However, these are not entirely satisfactory because, following curing, unreacted thioxanthone derivatives of this type have a tendency to migrate from printing inks into, for example, packaged foodstuffs."