Produce groups say EU's proposed plastic packaging regulations would impact food safety

Fresh produce growers and exporters are worried that proposed restrictions on plastic packaging regulations advancing globally will have tremendous consequences on food safety and waste, and are pushing for some policies to be scaled back.

The European Parliament is scheduled to hold a plenary vote on its proposed plastic packaging and packaging waste regulation on Wednesday. In March, the EU reached a provisional deal on the law, which aims to cut packaging waste and ban single-use plastics. 

If passed, the law will likely be formally adopted in the fall and fully take effect 18 months later, according to a European Union official.

The U.S. produce industry says restrictions, which are also under consideration in Canada, would make it virtually impossible to transport some foods, such as raspberries and bagged salad. Alternatives to plastic also could breed food safety problems.

Two-thirds of packaging waste in Europe comes from food and beverages, according to an EU official. The amount of packaging waste generated in Europe is outpacing recycling capacity, and is expected to increase by 25% by 2030. 

The law sets packaging reduction targets of 5% by 2030 and 15% by 2040 and mandates that all packaging should be recyclable by 2030. It also sets recycled content minimums for different plastic packaging products.

The policy also expands an existing single-use packaging ban to cover the plastic packaging for many fruits and vegetables. 

This push is similar to a French regulation on plastic packaging for produce that took effect about two years ago. Since its implementation, exceptions have been created for some crops like berries and bagged salad. 

Under the EU policy, the 27 member states will also have some flexibility in how they implement the policies and create exemptions. 

Max Teplitski, IFPA

This poses an additional challenge to exporters, because instead of adapting to a single market there will be 27 different markets that shippers and suppliers have to comply with, said Max Teplitski, chief science officer at the International Fresh Produce Association.  

The EU regulations coincide with a similar push in Canada to eliminate plastic packaging. In 2023, the country proposed that 95% of all fruits and vegetables would be sold in bulk or in non-plastic packaging by 2028.

Plastic packaging has contributed a significant amount of waste in Canada. In 2019, Canadians threw away 4.4 million metric tons of plastic waste; only 9% of that was recycled, according to an Environment and Climate Change Canada release. 

The regulations on single-use plastics are estimated to eliminate over 1.3 million metric tons of plastic waste and over 22,000 metric tons of plastic pollution over the next decade. 

Half of all U.S. fruit and vegetable exports go to Canada, meaning this regulation would have a significant impact on American producers, particularly those in the West, said Dennis Nuxoll, vice president of federal government affairs at Western Growers Association. 

Currently, the packaging proposal is on pause while other plastic regulations are appealed in court. However, the Canadian Environmental Ministry is working behind the scenes to potentially rework the rule, Nuxoll said. WGA has been meeting with Canadian and U.S. officials to stress the potential impact of the regulation. 

The ministry could release one or the other version of the regulation depending on the results of the pending court cases, he said. While these could be decided at any time, observers anticipate a decision this summer or early fall. 

The proposed regulation and requirements would be “impossible” to reach by 2028, Nuxoll said. 

Some fruits and vegetables require packaging in order to be sold, and in many cases the only packaging solution is some kind of plastic. For example, bagged salad and berries would be difficult to ship from the U.S. to Canada and then sold in a grocery store without any plastic packaging. 

Dennis Nuxoll, Western Growers Association

Even if the industry transitions to more fiber packaging, there are no existing products that meet Canada’s proposed regulation. 

“If the reg is not changed, we will not be able to sell to you,” Nuxoll said. “Large categories of products, SKU’s, will not be available in Canada, or they'll be incredibly expensive.”  

While he’s hopeful the message has gotten through to Canadian officials that the current regulation is not feasible, Nuxoll said it’s unclear what a re-write would look like. He suggested Canada could follow the French model by exempting crops that cannot be transitioned away from plastic packaging. 

“Sometimes it's easy to forget what it takes to put the food on the table,” Teplitski said. “The more consumers and decisionmakers educate themselves about what it takes to put the food on the table, the more sound policies we’ll have in place.”

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During this pause, Teplitski said there’s an opportunity to collaborate and look for creative solutions to minimize plastic packaging. The greater concern is Europe,  which is “a runaway train,” he said. 

His primary concerns with the EU policy and other efforts to ban plastic packaging are the potential impact on food safety, a loss of varieties and categories available to consumers and a possible increase in food waste.

Since the French regulation took effect, Nuxoll said there has been a spike in food waste as the shelf life for some crops decreases without plastic packaging.  

“Food safety is non-negotiable. Quality is non-negotiable. Making sure that we don't create new waste streams, while eliminating packaging waste is also non-negotiable,” Teplitski said.

As the industry waits for the Canadian regulation to progress, groups are researching solutions and the costs to transition food packaging. Some grocers like Walmart are already taking steps to reduce packaging waste, by exploring how to reduce virgin plastic, make plastic containers thinner or using a combination of materials like bio-plastic.

A coalition of food and agriculture organizations also launched the Alliance for Sustainable Packaging for Foods earlier this year. Its goal is to engage with governments and regulators around the world to craft policies on food packaging without compromising food safety. The current priorities are the regulations in EU and Canada. 

One area of research receiving a lot of attention is the plastic PLU stickers on some produce, and how to make it compostable. These stickers would be banned under the Canadian regulation as currently written, Nuxoll said. 

Researchers have been able to make the stickers compostable, but the next challenge is finding a compostable glue that will adhere to all produce in all climate conditions. Heavier glue used on produce with rougher skin is fossil-fuel-based, which makes the whole sticker non-compostable. 

The USDA has provided research funds to address this issue, but researchers have not completely solved the problem.

These stickers are important in conveying information about the produce to consumers, such as whether it's organic. It also makes checking out more convenient. 

Largely though, PLU stickers are key in tracing products for food safety events. Nuxoll said if stickers are banned, it could cause a major traceability problem. 

The U.S. and Canada have a bilateral agreement that allows each country to accept recall and food safety information. Without stickers, this relationship becomes difficult to maintain.  

Washington state was on track to ban plastic PLU stickers but has taken a step back for research before moving to rulemaking, said IFPA's Teplitski. 

In the U.S., there have been other discussions about cutting out plastic packaging. In California, produce packaging is exempted from regulations. Instead of banning these items, the state has focused on how to recycle more plastic packaging, Nuxoll said.

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