As part of the launch of the first fully complete version of the UP Scorecard earlier this year, we updated the chemicals of concern metric, which considers hazardous chemicals that are used in the production of or known to be present in food contact materials (FCMs). The updated metric uses the FCCprio List, a list of food contact chemicals to phase out or avoid, which relies on a robust protocol developed by the Food Packaging Forum (FPF). The list prioritizes food contact chemicals into tiers using authoritative hazard classifications and data about their presence in food contact materials and their detection in humans.
About the FCCprio List
The Food Contact Chemicals Priority (FCCprio) List is the most comprehensive attempt yet to systematically identify and prioritize food contact chemicals (FCCs) for phase-out and avoidance based on their known hazard properties and evidence for human exposure. FPF researchers combined all 15,159 known FCCs with publicly available harmonized hazard classifications from organizations including the European Chemicals Agency, the US Environmental Protection Agency, Japanese GHS, and others and with exposure data from FPF’s public datasets on chemicals measured in food contact articles and in humans to create a tiered hazard list. A detailed description of the methodology is available on Zenodo, and a description of the UP Scorecard’s chemicals of concern metric is available within the methodology documentation.
In total, 1,222 FCCs were identified as hazardous, placed on the FCCprio List, and prioritized based on their relevance for human exposure from FCMs. To be on the list, a chemical must have at least one of the following human health hazards: carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, reproductive toxicity, persistence, bioaccumulation, mobility, specific-target-organ toxicity after repeated exposure, or endocrine disruption.
Each prioritized chemical was then mapped to human-exposure evidence and sorted into one of four tiers (Figure 1). The UP Scorecard uses the FCCprio List to assign chemicals of concern scores to products. Tier 1 (94 chemicals) includes substances with the strongest evidence for exposure, namely the chemicals that have been found to migrate from FCMs and detected in humans in national biomonitoring programs. The tier is dominated by well-studied chemicals such as ortho-phthalate plasticizers, certain metals/metalloids (e.g., lead, cadmium), and many per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
New resources for UP Scorecard users
New resources included in the FCCprio List, as of January 2026, were developed at the request of UP Scorecard stakeholders.
The first allows stakeholders to find out which prioritized chemicals are used or have been detected within common food contact materials (according to publicly accessible sources). This data can make discussions with suppliers or manufacturers more efficient.
The second is an Excel tool to copy and paste any set of chemical CAS registry numbers and receive a breakdown of which chemicals, if any, are found in the FCCprio List and from which tier. The comparison tool incorporates outdated and retired CAS numbers for all chemicals, so the comparison is robust to minor variations in chemicals reporting.
Try it out!
The FCCprio List is freely available on Zenodo as an Excel file and will be updated as new hazard classifications or exposure studies emerge. The list already feeds into the UP Scorecard, helping purchasers avoid chemicals of concern during procurement and upstream manufacturers improve their product design. Stakeholders are invited to use FCCprio, share any additionally available data, and support further research so that future iterations can close the knowledge gap and drive safer food contact materials.
