Pollutants in food packaging – you need to know that!
Food packed in cans, Tetrapaks, plastic, cellophane film and cartons fill the shelves in our supermarkets. The long shelf life of these products enables us to keep good stocks. What is little known is that unwanted substances, some of which are even toxic, can migrate from some packaging into the food.
Packaging may contain undesirable substances
Packaged food has become an integral part of our daily life. They offer many advantages in our environment, which is characterized by time pressure and hectic, because they:
- are good for storage
- are readily available on the shelves
- provide desired portion sizes
- are easy to transport
New packaging is constantly being developed that is particularly user-friendly and makes handling the products easier. Accordingly, the use of new technologies and raw materials is also necessary. Unfortunately, the effects of some of these raw materials on our health are still completely unknown.
Most of the time, we only absorb unwanted substances that get into the food through the packaging, which are usually harmless to health. Nevertheless, some reaching into the food shelves should not remain unconsidered.
Wrapped in plastic
Whether sausage or cheese , sweets, bread or fruit , we can receive almost all foods packaged in foil or plastic. A large number of plastics are used in the food sector. These include, for example, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene and hard PVC. Our food is wrapped in plastic in the form of films, blisters and other forms of packaging.
Again and again there are reports that substances from the plastics can migrate into the food. Some of these are unwanted toxic substances.
The following packaging materials are to be viewed particularly critically:
- Vinylchlorid
- Epoxidized Soybean Oil (ESBO)
- Zinn
- BADGE (Bisphenol-A-diglycidylether)
- Phthalsäureester (Phthalate)
- FTOH (Fluortelomer-Alcohol)
The effects of the various substances are explained in detail below.
Vinylchlorid
Vinyl chloride is the raw material for the production of PVC (polyvinyl chloride), which is used as a protective coating in coated food packaging, films and composite films. Vinyl chloride is suspected of having a mildly mutagenic, carcinogenic effect. It is said to favor liver sarcomas in particular, since toxins are mainly processed in the liver.
However, there is still a lack of reliable findings that indicate a cancer-causing potency. Nevertheless, for precautionary reasons, the transfer of this substance to food must not be detectable.
Epoxidized Soybean Oil (ESBO)
ESBO is used as a plant -based plasticizer and stabilizer for PVC, especially in sealing compounds for lids and drawing films. In canned and glass food lids, it can make up up to 40 percent of the sealant.
Direct contact with the food and its fat content are decisive for the transfer of ESBO into the food. Large amounts of ESBO can migrate into high-oil foods such as pesto , olive paste, and vegetables in oil .
At the beginning of 2005, ESBO was detected in numerous foodstuffs packaged in screw-top jars, including baby food. To date, there are insufficient data to assess the health implications of ESBO for humans.
However, there is evidence of toxicity from repeated exposure to ESBO. The allowable daily intake has been set at 1 mg per kg body weight.
Since the limit for the daily intake of infants is significantly lower and, for example, baby food in jars could contain ESBO, there is currently discussion about setting a maximum level of detectable ESBO in food packaging.
Zinn
Be it vegetables, fruit or fish, the good old tin can has a permanent place on the grocery shelf. It has been known for a long time that tin can migrate into the contents of tinned tin cans if exposed to air. Tin is a heavy metal that is relatively non-toxic.
However, ingestion of larger amounts can lead to diarrhea and vomiting. Food from tin cans should therefore be processed quickly and leftovers transferred to another container.
However, the danger of ingesting high concentrations of tin is usually very low, since German manufacturers mainly use tin cans with an inner coating or varnish.
BADGE (Bisphenol-A-diglycidylether)
Coatings and paintwork can also contain undesirable substances, such as BADGE (bisphenol A diglycidyl ether). BADGE is a plasticizer that can be released from the inside coating of the cans into the contents.
Studies in Switzerland and Germany, for example, found high levels in the oil infusions of canned fish and in canned goods with a tear-off lid. The plasticizer is probably used to achieve optimal flexibility of the paint.
BADGE is suspected of altering the human hormone balance through an antiandrogenic effect. An originally assumed cancer risk or health hazard could not be confirmed so far. Nevertheless, the European Commission has set a limit of 1 mg per kg of food.
Phthalsäureester (Phthalate)
Phthalates are used as plasticizers for PVC, polystyrene and other plastics. They are added to the materials in order to optimize their elasticity and workability. The most common representative among the phthalates is DEHP (di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate).
Phthalates have not yet been extensively examined and evaluated from a toxicological point of view. They probably intervene in the human hormone balance through a weak estrogen-like effect and thus affect the development of the sex organs . They are also suspected of promoting diabetes in men.
However, since it was regulated in 2015, DEHP has only been found in medical packaging, and the substance should no longer be detected in food packaging. Instead of DEHP, which is probably harmful to health, only DINP (diisononyl phthalate) is used there, which is said to be less harmful.
As a rule, however, the amounts of phthalates that we absorb through the environment or through food are so small that the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment has assessed the health risk as very low.
Only 1.5 percent of the small children examined in a study were found to have an increased amount of phthalates in their bodies, which was probably linked to long-term oral contact with plastic toys.
Groceries in cardboard boxes
Pizza and hamburgers are available as fast food on every corner. The cardboard box is of course included so that the food arrives safely at home. To prevent cardboard and paper from softening during use, they are often coated with perfluorochemicals, as these are grease and water repellent.
Studies have shown that perfluorochemicals may contain FTOH (fluorotelomer alcohols) as an impurity . These are suspected of migrating to the food and thus getting into the human body, where the substance can accumulate due to the slow rate of degradation.
Little is known about the health risk for consumers. However, based on the results of animal experiments, the substance is classified as critical.
How can we protect ourselves?
To protect the consumer, the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) sets maximum quantities and limit values for substances that are harmful to health . Research is also carried out in the field of food safety, with the aim, among other things, of developing new technologies for the production of food and packaging which, while maintaining the same efficiency, ensure a high level of safety for the consumer.
Many manufacturers have already reacted to critical products, such as fatty foods and baby food in jars with screw caps, and have stopped using these questionable substances. But the critical purchasing behavior of consumers is also in demand.
5 tips to avoid harmful substances in packaging
Traces of substances that evaporate into the environment, onto our everyday objects and food can be processed in almost all conventional packaging.
The long-term damage to health or increased carcinogenicity could not be clearly demonstrated for most substances. However, it remains undisputed that taking these substances in large quantities is not healthy.
Anyone who avoids plastic-packaged goods as much as possible does not have to worry about possible poisoning. To avoid phthalates and co. in everyday life, we have put together these 5 tips:
- Favor products with alternative glass and paper packaging.
- Use the so-called “loose goods” more often. For example, buy unpackaged goods in the bakery, at the sausage and cheese counter or at the fruit and vegetable stand.
- Whenever possible, prepare food fresh and avoid packaged convenience foods and frozen foods .
- Pay particular attention to the packaging of fatty foods.
- Pack shrink-wrapped food in glass containers and the like at home.