Hazardous chemicals in food packaging can also be found in people

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Plastic wrap used on cucumbers has been found to contain phthalates. / iStockphoto/Getty Images

Thousands of chemicals used in food packaging and food production are leaching into food itself.

“It’s [from] your soda can, your plastic cooking utensils, your nonstick frying pan, the cardboard box that your fries come in,” says Jane Muncke, a toxicologist based in Zurich. “It’s retail food packaging, but also the processing equipment, and your [kitchenware] and tableware at home.”

More than 3,600 chemicals found in food packaging are also found in human bodies, according to a paper published Tuesday in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology. The research was led by Muncke and her colleagues at the Food Packaging Forum Foundation, a nonprofit research group focused on hazardous chemicals in food packaging.

The paper synthesizes data from other published sources that document the presence of certain chemicals in humans from samples of blood, urine and breast milk. Of the 3,600 chemicals found in both food packaging and in humans, the researchers say about 80 are known to have “hazard properties of high concern” to human health.

Heat and time accelerate leaching

Many of the chemicals in food packaging are ingredients in plastics and can be found in clothing, furniture and personal care products. But Muncke says food packaging is a particular concern, because it can contaminate what people eat.

Food packaging can chemically react with food. You may have observed this if you’ve ever stored tomato sauce in a plastic tub and seen a reddish residue in the container that doesn’t wash off. “That’s because the molecules, which give the sauce its red color, have diffused into the plastic,” Muncke says. “That happens the other way around also — chemicals from your plastic can diffuse into food.”

The chemical leaching can be hastened by heat, time, whether a food is acidic or fatty, or how much food is touching the container.

High concern for some chemicals

Many of the 3,600 chemicals haven’t been well-studied for health effects.

But some have known links with health problems. The study identified about 80 chemicals on the list that are of “high concern” — linked to conditions like certain cancers, developmental disorders, heart and metabolic diseases.

“Chemicals like phthalates, bisphenols, metals — I think there's pretty robust evidence to suggest that there are adverse health effects,” says Dr. Robert Sargis, an endocrinologist at the University of Illinois who was not involved with this study, though he’s worked with Muncke on others.

Phthalates, for instance, are known to be endocrine disruptors and can interfere with the body’s hormones. They’re used to make plastics flexible and durable, such as in the clear wrap on cucumbers at the grocery store.

The chemicals can be hard for shoppers to spot and avoid. “The fact of the matter is, we don’t know where this stuff is, and we don’t know 100% how we’re getting exposed to it,” Sargis says.

Chemicals can start clearing the body in days

The effects of these chemicals can accumulate over time, contributing to chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease, says Dr. Leonardo Trasande, a pediatrician and director of the Center for the Investigation of Environmental Hazards at NYU Langone Health. Trasande wasn’t involved with this study, though he has collaborated in the specialized field of health and plastics research with Muncke and Sargis.

In a study published earlier this year, Trasande and his collaborators estimate that health problems related to exposure to harmful chemicals in plastics cost the U.S. $250 billion a year. The analysis included both direct medical costs and indirect costs, such as lost productivity due to disability. “We didn't [look into] food packaging as a subset of that, but I'm going to say that's probably a big driver,” Trasande says.

It is possible to reverse some health effects by reducing chemical consumption, Trasande says. He says some of these chemicals, such as BPAand phthalates, can start clearing the body within days after stopping exposure. “If you sustain those interventions, you change hormone levels in weeks, and you change your disease profile in months,” he says.

Trasande recommends against microwaving or dishwashing plastic food containers. He says stainless steel and glass are less likely to react chemically with food.

Researchers say regulators could do more to help by requiring better labeling for chemicals in food packaging. That could help consumers make better choices. Restrictions on chemicals with known harms in food production and packaging would also help. “We need to get out of the rabbit hole of focusing on plastic bags as a way to reduce plastic exposure,” Trasande says. “We need to think about food packaging.”

The Foodservice Packaging Institute and the Plastic Industry Association didn’t respond to requests for comment.

In testimony submitted for a congressional hearing on Sept. 10, Jim Jones, deputy commissioner for human foods at the Food and Drug Administration, stated: “The food industry is responsible for ensuring the safety of the chemicals they use in foods, including food packaging and other food contact materials, and FDA’s ability to assess the safety of these ingredients in the food supply is both reliant on and limited by the availability of this safety data.” Still, he recognized, “Congress, state legislatures, and stakeholders have made clear that chemical safety is a priority we need to address.”

The FDA will hold a public meeting on Sept. 25 to discuss how to improve the agency’s supervision of chemicals in food, including in food packaging.