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A new approach to food packaging, a recycling assessment using in vitro strategies
Summary
This study assessed sustainable food packaging materials using in vitro strategies to evaluate recycling potential and microplastic release, within the framework of the European strategy for reducing plastic in packaging. Results provided data on whether recycled packaging materials release microplastics and how circularity approaches affect plastic particle contamination of food.
Humans are exposed to plastic pollution through several pathways, but food contamination with plastic microparticles presents as one of the major challenges to overcome. Sustainable packaging and circularity of materials are one of the approaches within the framework of the European strategy for plastics, towards an increasingly circular economy. In this sense, the industry is aiming at improving the sustainability and safety of their products. The present work involved the collaboration of producers and academia to develop new strategies in food packaging, namely the incorporation of recycled material into water bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and yogurt cups made of polypropylene (PP). An evaluation of the toxicity profiles of microplastics originated from the new materials was made using human cell lines as biological model, namely PNT-2 representing normal epithelial tissue, HepG2 from hepatocellular carcinoma and HCT116 from colorectal carcinoma and using the commercial plastic as comparison. The material was mechanically degraded and two different size ranges of particles were obtained by differential filtration, micro(nano)particles below 25 µm and nanoparticles below 1.6 µm. Cells were exposed to increasing concentrations from 1.28 µg/L up to 100 mg/L and cellular viability was assessed at 24, 48 and 72h of exposure with MTT assay. In general, the new materials presented lower impact in cell viability in the 3 tested cell lines, with lower IC50. PNT-2 is the most resistant cell line tested in both commercial and new material, independent of size and HCT116 is the most sensitive cell line and toxicity is dependent of time. Overall, the strategy of incorporation of recycled material into food packaging demonstrates an increase in chain value, with reduction of production costs and lower impact in the environment and exerting less toxicity in comparison with commercial versions. Also see: https://micro2024.sciencesconf.org/559722/document