The French government has notified more than 100 companies, reportedly including Nestlé, that it is investigating them for failing to disclose their use of bisphenol-A in food packaging.
Bisphenol-A is a hardening agent for plastic that is often used to coat the interior of cans and for other food & beverage packaging purposes. Concerns were raised in the early 2010s about its safety, after studies linked it to cancers in laboratory animals. France banned it from food packaging in 2015. It is still legal in the U.S. for everything except baby formula.
France’s competition authority sent a “statement of objections” to 101 companies and 14 trade associations, accusing them of agreeing “not to communicate on the presence or on the composition of certain materials in contact with food, to the detriment of consumers,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
The statement did not name Nestlé, but the company responded by saying it would “vigorously contest” the allegation. The companies will now have a chance to issue a defense.
