Scientists discover how many chemicals from food packaging enter our bodies
washingtonpost.com
washingtonpost.com
How is it legal for Sweetgreen, Cava and other restaurants to use PFAS in "compostable" food packaging and make it seem like a "sustainable" alternative to plastic packaging? [1]
It's difficult for me to contain my emotions whenever I read about PFAS being found in yet another common material and certain government bodies trying to deregulate safety inspections [2].
[1] https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-contaminants/dan...
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/28/trum...
>Most of the chemicals leaching from food packaging come from plastics, but not all of them. “Probably the worst one is recycled paper and cardboard,” Muncke said. “And I know that’s a hard one to stomach.” Recycling paper, cardboard or plastic for food packaging leads to nonfood grade inks mixed in next to food, she explained, adding to the chemical risks.
He never did really understand me.
Maybe not great for the teacher.
When I was a child my mom would cook me a fresh batch every month or so during my frequent clay phases.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUDVuugQmxE
People were probably ignorant when they were spraying kids with DDT. Today it's ignorance mixed with greed.
Are glass bottles OK, or does the coloring leech out? I am guessing clay pots were fine for thousands of years, should I be using them? What about brown paper wrap? I know the butcher paper has a coating on it... Every time I read something like this two thoughts come into my mind:
- I will never get "mega corp" to stop using them.
- I do not know what the alternatives are.Convenience is king, and humans simply aren't really programmed care about long term consequences.
Jokes on us, Mega Corp sprayed plastic liners and/or PFAS onto the metal for longevity. Same with milk cartons. Most of us didn’t know this until years later.
Glass is not an option for people with young children. I don’t want to pick up glass out of their car seat again.
The holy grail for packaging would be a transparent, flexible, glass-like substance that is also extremely inert and which doesn't absorb the contents, doesn't spoil, doesn't allow air in or out, retains shape for a long time.... and yet can be decomposed!! As you can see this is a tall order.
Price is king. Everyone knows glass containers are better and consumers prefer them. However, shipping glass containers has a considerably higher cost than plastic from both a weight perspective as well as a fragility/loss perspective. That doesn't even factor in the cost of the glass containers themselves.
If someone invented a glass that was as cheap and light as plastic food suppliers would switch to it in a heartbeat.
What the world needs is glass foam that's strong enough that it won't break while shipping and smooth on both the outside and inside. Think: Glass foam with a Gorilla glass-like surface on both the outside and inside.
I object to the idea that the old-times ways were better when we know even in the short history people were prescribe cigarettes and brushed their teeth with radioactive toothpaste.
The reason is that PTFE, like any plastic, is porous, so it can never be perfectly cleaned, but it will retain embedded in it some residues of the food previously stored in it. This can lead just to some undesirable smell, but in appropriate temperature and humidity conditions it can also lead to the growth of bacteria.
For food storage and handling, the best food-contact materials remain glasses or metals, which can be cleaned perfectly.
Borosilicate glass is much more resistant to acids (except hydrogen fluoride) than to alkalis, but most foods are acidic or neutral, none are alkaline.
Of the materials commonly encountered, the safest for food contact are borosilicate glass, normal glass, commercially-pure titanium and stainless steel.
Just point an IR thermometer at it. They're cheap and useful for cooking even if you're not using non-stick.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytetrafluoroethylene The commonly known brand name of PTFE-based composition is Teflon by Chemours, a spin-off from DuPont, which originally discovered the compound in 1938.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GenX GenX chemicals are used as replacements for PFOA for manufacturing fluoropolymers such as Teflon
In June of 2017, The Wilmington Star-News broke the story that GenX was found in the Cape Fear River – the drinking water supply for 500,000 people.
From https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/source/hsdb/833 :
"Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), also known as C8, is another man-made chemical. It is used in the process of making Teflon and similar chemicals (known as fluorotelomers), although it is burned off during the process and is not present in significant amounts in the final products." [GenX is very similar.]
And there's no technical reason why manufacturing PFAS polymers necessarily has to result in PFAS small molecule pollution. The waste could be captured and treated with processes such as supercritical water oxidation. This would of course cost more, but seeing as there's no good substitute for PFAS polymers, I'd happily pay more for them. Pollution, like all externalities, is a market failure, and it's the government's job to fix market failures with regulation.
Glass has the benefit of very high chemical inertness while also being extremely resistant to mechanical abrasion. Some types of glass are clearly not good enough (eg most 'crystal'/lead glasses), but borosilicate and fused silica are certainly well proven materials.
Another process that is relevant, leaching, while considered a 'chemical process' does not actually involve any kind of 'reactivity'. It's governed by solubility and statistical mechanics.
This is not something that would matter in any food-contact application.
While PTFE neither is modified by food nor any part of it is leeched into the food, it can retain minute amounts of food in its pores, which may be retained despite further attempts to clean it, which does not happen with glass.
When a PTFE container is used to store different kinds of food, it can transfer the scent of one of them to the other.
The PTFE recipients used for chemical experiments may be cleaned by aggressive methods, e.g. with strong acids and/or strong oxidants, which would destroy any organic substances. Such cleaning methods cannot be applied in a common household.
Therefore borosilicate glass or soda-lime glass are better food-contact materials than PTFE, even if they can react with various chemicals that would have no effect on PTFE, but none of those chemicals are encountered in food.
https://www.mdpi.com/2311-5637/9/2/125#:~:text=Especially%20....
>The lowest minimal total phthalates were found in glass bottles (7.07 µg/L), whereas the highest were determined to be in cans, at 101.60 µg/L.
Even though they are significantly better than plastic and aluminum (lined with plastic) containers, they still contain phthalates.
Also worth noting that the FDA has explicitly denied petitions to ban them in food:
https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-and-gras-ingredients....
>On May 19, 2022, the FDA denied this petition.
>the petition also did not demonstrate the proposed class of phthalates is no longer safe for the approved food additive uses.
This despite a mountain of evidence, going back 10+ years, showing that phthalates are endocrine disrupting chemicals.
Generally glass is going to be fine, as long as it’s not painted/coated on the surface that touches the food or your lips. That said, the cap is almost certainly plastic/plastic coated.
Plastics are all suspect IMO, particularly in hot liquid applications (looking at you, Pho delivery).
Aluminum seems like it would be fine, but the cans all use internal rust inhibiting coatings (which vary from beverage to beverage) that are also suspect.
Parchment paper is fine, butcher paper is coated, as you point out.
Oh, and your drinking water is probably full of microplastics.
Personally, I use glass storage for leftovers, reverse osmosis filter for drinking water, only buy liquids packaged in glass, and try to buy whole ingredients/cook my own food. But I still sometimes enjoy a can of beer or a take out meal. I figure if there is a hazard, it’s dose dependent, and I just try to be a little thoughtful about where I’m picking up exposure.
There are risks with aluminium causing neurological problems, especially the soft unanodised stuff. I think aluminium cooking pans are banned in some countries.
How do you think the ingredients are delivered to the store?
They are finding microplastics in our BRAINS
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle...
There's going to be an IQ drop for at least one generation if not multiple just like leaded gas (which is still in use and sprayed around every airport)