{"id":18092,"date":"2025-08-06T11:15:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T15:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/observatoireprevention.org\/?p=18092"},"modified":"2025-08-06T11:15:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T15:15:08","slug":"the-potential-harmful-effects-of-food-packaging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/observatoireprevention.org\/en\/2025\/08\/06\/the-potential-harmful-effects-of-food-packaging\/","title":{"rendered":"The Potential Harmful Effects of Food Packaging"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"wp-block-borealisaurora-aurora-custom-block-posts-resume\">\n    <div class=\"aurora-custom-block-posts-resume\">\n        <div class=\"container\">\n            <div class=\"title\">\n                <h2>Overview<\/h2>\n            <\/div>\n                <div class=\"content\" >\n                \n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Food packaging contains a large number of chemical compounds that come into contact with food.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Studies indicate that&nbsp;thousands of these chemicals can migrate into food, potentially causing&nbsp;harmful toxic effects, including&nbsp;endocrine disruption.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ultra-processed foods&nbsp;appear especially vulnerable to this contamination due to&nbsp;prolonged contact&nbsp;with packaging materials.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n<p>Modern food systems have made it possible to produce&nbsp;large quantities of food&nbsp;that is often&nbsp;affordable and widely accessible&nbsp;around the world. This success relies heavily on advances in modern chemistry:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>On one hand,&nbsp;synthetic nitrogen fertilizers&nbsp;and&nbsp;pesticides&nbsp;have significantly boosted agricultural yields.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>On the other, food preservation\u00a0has greatly improved thanks to\u00a0food additives\u00a0and\u00a0packaging materials\u00a0(plastic, metal, silicone, paper, cardboard, etc.) that protect against microbial contamination and allow food to be transported over long distances.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>However, this industrialization of the food supply chain comes with&nbsp;serious environmental consequences. Beyond its contribution to&nbsp;greenhouse gas emissions&nbsp;(especially from livestock) and&nbsp;soil and air pollution (<a href=\"https:\/\/observatoireprevention.org\/en\/2021\/09\/07\/environmental-impacts-associated-with-food-production\/\">see our article on this topic<\/a>), the&nbsp;extensive use of chemical compound<strong>s<\/strong>&nbsp;in food production greatly increases the&nbsp;risk of food contamination. Consumers\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nejm.org\/doi\/full\/10.1056\/NEJMms2409092\">including children<\/a>\u2014can thus be exposed to numerous synthetic molecules with known toxic effects, particularly&nbsp;pesticides,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/observatoireprevention.org\/en\/2022\/07\/08\/harmful-health-effects-of-exposure-to-forever-chemicals\/\">per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)<\/a>,&nbsp;phthalates, and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/observatoireprevention.org\/en\/2024\/04\/12\/harmful-effects-of-plastics-on-cardiovascular-health\/\">microplastics<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Chemical Packaging<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One&nbsp;significant yet relatively unknown source of contamination&nbsp;originates from&nbsp;chemicals that come directly into contact with food\u2014referred to as&nbsp;food contact chemicals (FCCs). FCCs are used at various stages of food production (e.g. in equipment for processing, storage, and transport), but&nbsp;the chemicals in packaging materials&nbsp;have received the most attention in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41591-025-03697-5\">A&nbsp;recent review&nbsp;<\/a>of studies on the subject highlights the&nbsp;extent of this contamination. Analyses show that over&nbsp;12,000 different chemical compounds&nbsp;are&nbsp;intentionally used&nbsp;in the manufacturing of food contact materials, and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/10408398.2022.2067828#abstract\">at least 2,800<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>of them are known to&nbsp;migrate into food<\/a>. Experts believe the real contamination potential is much higher, estimating that due to&nbsp;impurities,&nbsp;cross-reactions, and&nbsp;degradation by-products,&nbsp;more than 100,000 distinct compounds&nbsp;may be&nbsp;unintentionally formed&nbsp;during manufacturing (see Figure&nbsp;1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In many cases, the&nbsp;identity and quantity&nbsp;of these chemicals are&nbsp;unknown, which means their presence in food could&nbsp;evade toxicological testing&nbsp;and go&nbsp;undetected by safety assessments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"490\" src=\"https:\/\/observatoireprevention.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Fig.-FCCs-ENG-1024x490.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18093\" srcset=\"https:\/\/observatoireprevention.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Fig.-FCCs-ENG-1024x490.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/observatoireprevention.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Fig.-FCCs-ENG-300x144.jpg 300w, https:\/\/observatoireprevention.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Fig.-FCCs-ENG-768x368.jpg 768w, https:\/\/observatoireprevention.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Fig.-FCCs-ENG-1536x735.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/observatoireprevention.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Fig.-FCCs-ENG-2048x980.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Figure&nbsp;1. Contamination of Food Products by Chemicals in Contact with Food<\/strong><br>An estimated&nbsp;12,000 distinct chemical compounds&nbsp;are&nbsp;intentionally used&nbsp;at various stages of the food production chain (manufacturing, transportation, packaging). However, the&nbsp;potential number of contaminants&nbsp;that can migrate into food is&nbsp;much higher, due to&nbsp;impurities,&nbsp;cross-reactions, and&nbsp;degradation products&nbsp;of the chemicals used. In many cases, the&nbsp;nature and amount&nbsp;of these contaminants remain&nbsp;unknown.&nbsp;Adapted from&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.research-collection.ethz.ch\/bitstream\/handle\/20.500.11850\/637790\/1-s2.0-S0160412023004348-main.pdf;jsessionid=3E00DCC5581C3829194AEC435ACC8CAD?sequence=3\">Muncke et al. (2023)<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When it comes to&nbsp;assessing the risks of FCCs, we are currently&nbsp;significantly behind. Unlike for the approximately&nbsp;1,000 pesticides&nbsp;that can potentially contaminate food and are&nbsp;routinely monitored&nbsp;(ensuring their levels remain below toxic thresholds), there are&nbsp;no standardized analytical methods&nbsp;targeting many known FCCs\u2014let alone those&nbsp;formed unintentionally&nbsp;during packaging production, whose identity is often unknown. This gap is particularly concerning given that the&nbsp;amount of FCCs in food is estimated to be&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/10408390500295490\">at least 100 times higher than that of pesticides<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two additional concerns cast doubt on our current approach to evaluating FCC toxicity:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"1\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Risk assessments often focus solely on genotoxicity&nbsp;(cancer-causing potential), even though many FCCs are now known to cause&nbsp;non-cancer-related effects, such as&nbsp;endocrine disruption&nbsp;(see next section).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Evaluations are typically conducted on individual chemicals, whereas most food packaging materials can release&nbsp;mixtures containing dozens to thousands of FCCs&nbsp;simultaneously into food. Even if&nbsp;each compound is present at a non-toxic level,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/science.aat9219\">research shows<\/a>&nbsp;that&nbsp;\u201cmixture effects\u201d&nbsp;(the&nbsp;combined impact&nbsp;of multiple contaminants) can still pose significant risks (Figure&nbsp;2).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"748\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/observatoireprevention.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Fig.-2-additive-effects-ENG-748x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18095\" style=\"width:380px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/observatoireprevention.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Fig.-2-additive-effects-ENG-748x1024.jpg 748w, https:\/\/observatoireprevention.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Fig.-2-additive-effects-ENG-219x300.jpg 219w, https:\/\/observatoireprevention.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Fig.-2-additive-effects-ENG-768x1052.jpg 768w, https:\/\/observatoireprevention.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Fig.-2-additive-effects-ENG.jpg 904w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 748px) 100vw, 748px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Figure&nbsp;2. The Concept of Mixture Effects<\/strong>. Even if individual chemical compounds are present at levels below toxicity thresholds, their&nbsp;simultaneous presence in a mixture&nbsp;can have&nbsp;additive effects&nbsp;that may be harmful. Adapted from&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/science.aat9219\">Kortenkamp and Faust (2018)<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In conclusion, it is likely that we are&nbsp;seriously underestimating both the extent of food contamination&nbsp;by food contact chemicals and the&nbsp;associated health risks.<br>This&nbsp;regulatory blind spot&nbsp;is especially worrisome when it comes to&nbsp;plastics, one of the main sources of potentially toxic compounds in everyday food packaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Plastics and Plasticizers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Plastics have become&nbsp;indispensable&nbsp;in the manufacture of everyday items. By 2050, global plastic production could reach&nbsp;one billion tonnes annually, nearly&nbsp;1,000 times more&nbsp;than a century ago. Despite their usefulness, plastics have a major drawback: they&nbsp;accumulate in the environment. Since 1950, an estimated&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/annalsofglobalhealth.org\/articles\/10.5334\/aogh.4056\">7&nbsp;billion tonnes of plastic waste&nbsp;have been generated<\/a>. The&nbsp;fragmentation and erosion&nbsp;of this waste create tiny particles known as&nbsp;microplastics&nbsp;(less than 5&nbsp;mm in diameter) and&nbsp;nanoplastics&nbsp;(less than 1&nbsp;\u00b5m). These particles can&nbsp;enter the human body&nbsp;and may contribute to disease development. Recent studies have linked their presence to an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nejm.org\/doi\/full\/10.1056\/NEJMoa2309822\">increased&nbsp;risk of cardiovascular events<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41591-024-03453-1\">Alzheimer\u2019s disease<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Crucially, this contamination doesn\u2019t occur only through environmental degradation.&nbsp;Normal use of plastic materials in contact with food or beverages&nbsp;can also lead to the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/doi\/10.1021\/acs.est.1c06768\">migration of micro- and nanoplastics&nbsp;into what we eat<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bisphenols and Phthalates: Known Threats<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among FCCs,&nbsp;bisphenols&nbsp;and&nbsp;phthalates&nbsp;are among the best-studied. These&nbsp;plasticizers modify the properties of plastics\u2014phthalates make plastics like polystyrene more flexible, while bisphenols contribute rigidity to polycarbonates and epoxy resins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both are&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC2726844\/\">known&nbsp;endocrine disruptors (EDCs)<\/a>, meaning they interfere with hormone-regulated physiological processes such as development, metabolism, and reproduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/annalsofglobalhealth.org\/articles\/10.5334\/aogh.4459\">Documented health impacts<\/a>&nbsp;include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Bisphenol A (BPA)<\/strong>:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Reduced anoclitoral distance in infants<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Type&nbsp;2 diabetes (T2D) in adults<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Insulin resistance in both children and adults<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Obesity and hypertension in children and adults<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cardiovascular disease (CVD)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Phthalates<\/strong>:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Miscarriages<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Shorter anogenital distance in boys<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Insulin resistance<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Early puberty in girls<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Poor semen quality<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cognitive developmental issues<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reduced IQ<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Canada is&nbsp;much more lenient than Europe&nbsp;regarding phthalate use in packaging and cosmetics. As a result,&nbsp;virtually all Canadians aged 6 to 79&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/content\/dam\/hc-sc\/documents\/services\/environmental-workplace-health\/reports-publications\/environmental-contaminants\/fifth-report-human-biomonitoring\/pub1-eng.pdf\">have&nbsp;detectable levels of phthalates in their urine.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although&nbsp;urinary BPA levels&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/en\/health-canada\/services\/environmental-workplace-health\/reports-publications\/environmental-contaminants\/human-biomonitoring-resources\/bisphenol-a-canadians.html\">have decreased by about&nbsp;50% between 2007 and 2019<\/a>, BPA has largely been replaced by&nbsp;similar compounds&nbsp;like&nbsp;BPS&nbsp;and&nbsp;BPF. Studies suggest that&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/doi\/10.1021\/acs.est.2c09390\">BPS can also migrate into food<\/a>&nbsp;and may have&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC6387873\/\">endocrine-disrupting effects similar to BPA<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>FCCs and Ultra-Processed Foods<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In recent years,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/384\/bmj-2023-077310\">numerous studies<\/a>&nbsp;have linked&nbsp;ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption&nbsp;to&nbsp;obesity,&nbsp;cardiometabolic diseases,&nbsp;mental health disorders, and&nbsp;premature death. These effects are partially due to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/observatoireprevention.org\/en\/2019\/05\/28\/to-stay-slim-avoid-ultra-processed-foods\/\">Increased&nbsp;caloric intake&nbsp;and&nbsp;weight gain<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/observatoireprevention.org\/en\/2023\/10\/26\/emulsifiers-food-additives-that-increase-the-risk-of-cardiovascular-disease\/\">Additives&nbsp;like emulsifiers<\/a>&nbsp;that&nbsp;promote chronic inflammation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>A shared characteristic of UPFs is that they are&nbsp;prepackaged, often for long periods. Food may remain in contact with packaging for&nbsp;weeks, months, or even years,&nbsp;increasing contamination risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Worse, many items\u2014like&nbsp;microwaveable meals in plastic trays\u2014are&nbsp;heated in their packaging, which&nbsp;accelerates FCC migration&nbsp;into the food (according to&nbsp;the Arrhenius law, which links temperature to reaction speed).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC7394369\/\">Studies<\/a>&nbsp;have shown that&nbsp;greater UPF consumption&nbsp;correlates with&nbsp;higher urinary levels of FCCs, such as&nbsp;phthalates and bisphenols. Additionally, the&nbsp;health risks associated with UPFs, such as&nbsp;obesity and cardiometabolic diseases, overlap with those caused by chronic exposure to FCCs like&nbsp;DEHP (a common phthalate)&nbsp;and&nbsp;BPA. Also concerning is the presence of&nbsp;PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances)&nbsp;in fast-food packaging since these can&nbsp;migrate into&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2304-8158\/10\/7\/1443\">greasy or salty foods<\/a>&nbsp;and are well-documented&nbsp;endocrine disruptors. It is therefore possible that the migration of all of these compounds into ultra-processed foods could contribute to their negative impacts on health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How to Reduce Exposure to FCCs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are&nbsp;at least two concrete steps&nbsp;that can help reduce the ingestion of potentially toxic chemicals from food packaging:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"1\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Avoid heating food in plastic containers.<\/strong><br>Use alternatives like&nbsp;glass. Also, choose&nbsp;wood or metal utensils&nbsp;instead of plastic ones, which may contain&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/core.ac.uk\/reader\/185502934?utm_source=linkout\">brominated flame retardants<\/a>&nbsp;from recycled plastics.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Minimize consumption of ultra-processed foods.<\/strong><br>These foods not only contain higher levels of FCCs but are also:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Nutritionally poor&nbsp;(high in calories, sugar, fat, and salt)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Low in essential nutrients&nbsp;(vitamins, minerals, and fibre)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Likely to&nbsp;replace healthier, less-processed options&nbsp;that protect against chronic diseases<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>In summary,<strong>&nbsp;t<\/strong>he hidden chemicals in food packaging\u2014especially plastics\u2014pose&nbsp;underestimated health risks, particularly in ultra-processed foods. Reducing exposure through&nbsp;smarter choices and less packaging&nbsp;is a&nbsp;practical step toward better health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An increasing number of studies show that certain chemical compounds found in food packaging can contaminate food and may cause harmful health effects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1567,1584],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1619],"class_list":["post-18092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","category-pollution-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Potential Harmful Effects of Food Packaging | Observatoire de la pr\u00e9vention de 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