Is Plastic Packaging Additives safe in food and drink?

Phthalates, commonly used as plasticizers in plastic packaging, are endocrine and metabolic disruptors associated with adverse effects on neurodevelopment, childhood asthma, type 2 diabetes, ADHD, childhood and adult obesity, breast and uterine cancer, endometriosis, infertility, and increased cardiovascular and all-cause mortality.

Why here

Phthalates can migrate from plastic packaging, such as PVC, and food processing equipment into food and beverages, particularly fatty foods, under warm conditions or prolonged contact.

What would have to be true

Ingestion from food and beverages contaminated by phthalates leaching from plastic packaging, food processing equipment, or environmental contamination.

Bisphenol A (BPA), an additive in some plastic packaging, is an endocrine-disrupting chemical that can mimic or block hormones and has been linked to developmental and health problems in children, including learning and behavior conditions, early puberty, diabetes, obesity, and heart disease, as well as hormone imbalance, reproductive dysfunction, and developmental abnormalities in humans.

Why here

BPA can seep into food or beverages from polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins used in food containers and can linings, especially when heated or stored for long periods.

What would have to be true

Ingestion from food and beverages stored in BPA-containing plastic containers or metal cans lined with epoxy resins, particularly with heating or prolonged contact.

The other side

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has stated that BPA is safe at the very low levels that occur in some foods, based on a review of hundreds of studies, and continues to monitor the research. Cancer Research UK states there is no reliable evidence from human studies that food and drinks stored in plastic cause cancer, and that the amount of BPA getting into food is too small to cause harm.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known as 'forever chemicals' used in food packaging for oil and liquid resistance, are linked to serious health effects including cancer, hormone disruption, liver and kidney toxicity, harm to the immune system (decreased response to vaccines), reproductive and developmental toxicity, increased cholesterol levels, increases in high blood pressure, and pre-eclampsia in pregnant women.

Why here

PFAS are intentionally added to food packaging to make it resistant to oil and liquid, and can migrate into food, especially when packaging is exposed to fatty, salty, or acidic foods.

What would have to be true

Ingestion of food and beverages from packaging containing PFAS, particularly fatty, salty, or acidic foods.

The other side

The FDA has provided guidance on authorized uses of PFAS in food contact applications, and some manufacturers have voluntarily agreed to phase out certain PFAS compounds (e.g., 6:2 FTOH) used as grease-proofing agents in paperboard packaging following FDA safety reviews.

Plastic food packaging can contain hundreds of chemicals, including many classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic to reproduction (CMRs), and endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which can migrate into food upon ingestion.

Why here

Additives such as plasticizers, antioxidants, and stabilizers are intentionally added to plastics and can migrate from packaging to food through various mechanisms, especially with heating, prolonged contact, or with fatty/acidic foods.

What would have to be true

Ingestion of food and beverages from plastic packaging containing these additives.

Ingestion of microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) from food packaging and environmental contamination is linked in animal and human cell studies to biological changes including inflammation, impaired immune system, deteriorated tissues, altered metabolic function, abnormal organ development, cell damage, oxidative stress, fibrogenesis, and suggested links to cancer and reproductive problems.

Why here

MNPs can enter food from the environment where food is grown or raised, and also from the breakdown of plastic packaging, with some studies suggesting migration into food.

What would have to be true

Ingestion of food and beverages containing microplastics and nanoplastics, with adults estimated to ingest the equivalent of one credit card per week.

The other side

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) states that current scientific evidence does not demonstrate that levels of microplastics or nanoplastics detected in foods pose a risk to human health, and the World Health Organization (WHO) finds available data of limited use for risk assessment.