Key Highlights:
- There are reports where scientists have found more than 3,000 potentially harmful chemicals in food packaging and other food-related material.
- More than 1200 scientific studies of chemicals had been measured in food packaging, processing equipment, tableware, and reusable food containers by an international group of scientists.
- Nearly two-thirds of the studies analyzed in the new report looked at chemicals in plastic. Packaging manufacturers often add chemicals without knowing the long-term ramifications.”
With the increase in demand for food, there is a lot of pressure on the food industry to meet the demands. Meanwhile, there are reports where scientists have found more than 3,000 potentially harmful chemicals in food packaging and other food-related material. Another shocking fact is that two-thirds of them were no in known to be in the contact with food previously.
More than 1200 scientific studies of chemicals had been measured in food packaging, processing equipment, tableware, and reusable food containers by an international group of scientists. A Switzerland-based non-profit, Food Packaging Forum released a report that there are about many of the 3,240 chemicals examined in these studies or their effects on people.
Pete Myers, a report co-author and founder and chief scientist of Environmental Health Sciences, a non-profit advocacy group said, “Manufacturers are either intentionally or unintentionally adding these chemicals to packaging and other equipment. Either way, many of those chemicals are ending up in the human body”. Further, he added, “If we don’t know what it is, we don’t know its toxicity.” “The mix of chemicals is just too complicated to allow us to regulate them safely.”
Exposure To Potentially Toxic Chemicals
Amid the growing concerns, a new analysis published in the journal Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition about exposure to potentially toxic chemicals in food and water.
Jessica Heiges, a UC Berkeley doctoral candidate who studies disposable food items such as plasticware and packaging and was not involved in the report said, “Nearly two-thirds of the studies analyzed in the new report looked at chemicals in plastic. Packaging manufacturers often add chemicals without knowing the long-term ramifications.”
Further, he added, “The chemicals “are terrifying because we don’t know what their impacts are.” “What’s most alarming is this cocktail of chemicals, how they’re interacting with each other. Some of them are persisting in the environment and in our bodies as we’re consuming them.”
Alastair Iles, an associate professor in UC Berkeley’s environmental science, policy and management department, also not involved with the study said, “It’s likely many of those unknown chemicals are harmful.” “The report only underlines our gross ignorance when it comes to the chemicals that people are being exposed to every day,” he said. “If we didn’t know that there were so many chemicals in packages, what does that say about our knowledge about chemical risks?”
