The news comes as the government announced that supermarkets and large stores will be imposing a compulsory charge of 5p on carrier bags.
The FPA, who represent the UK manufacturers and distributors of foodservice packaging including a number of the leading UK producers of carrier bags, said that it was disappointed with the carrier bag announcement.
'Difficult climate'
FPA chairman Neil Whittall said: "Encouraging the reuse of bags for ready to eat food products has already been questioned for its food safety aspects; this also comes with the precaution that any form of charge is likely to hit the industry hard in an already difficult climate.
"Martin Kersh our chief operating officer has been leading this project for the Foodservice Packaging Association and is working directly with FPA members and UK material and?hospitality?organisations and recently held two meetings with the Scottish government who although have drafted legislation are nonetheless reviewing evidence which highlights the danger to the public's health of reusing bags for any ready to eat food which is either unwrapped or partially wrapped."
Chief operating officer Martin Kersch added: "Having gathered evidence from food safety academics it is very clear that the reuse of bags for ready to consume food puts the public at great risk with regard to food borne pathogens such as Salmonella and Listeria. ?Indeed the Welsh Food Standards Agency has issued advice asking the public to take the utmost care when reusing bags for food and advises the public to clean and wash bags before reuse.
"We feel it's very doubtful the majority of the public wash bags which could have been used to carry fresh meat, fish and frozen chicken before reusing them. The health ramifications are such that a number of foodservice outlets will not place food and drink in bags brought into their outlets by their customers. ?This effectively makes the charge in foodservice outlets a compulsory charge to the public as they don't have the option of reusing bags.
"Our discussions with the Scottish government have been highly productive and we very much hope the Westminster government will afford us the same level of consultation so that an exemption for the foodservice industry as applies in Northern Ireland will be included in any future legislation to help safeguard the public's health."
