Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Water Quality in Different Storage Containers: A Comparative Study of Materials

This review compares how plastic, glass, and metal storage containers affect drinking water quality, finding that plastic containers can leach harmful chemicals and that container choice has meaningful implications for human health.

2024 International Journal of Pharmaceutical Research and Applications 1 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

A Systematic Review: Migration of Chemical Compounds from Plastic Material Containers in Food and Pharmaceutical Fields

This systematic review examines how chemical compounds migrate from plastic containers into food and pharmaceutical products. The findings highlight that chemicals like phthalates, bisphenol A, and other additives can leach into what we eat and drink, especially under heat or extended storage, raising concerns about long-term health effects from daily exposure to food packaging.

2025 Journal of Xenobiotics 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Plastic materials used in the food industry, their influence on health, and potential solutions

This review examines how plastics used in food packaging gradually degrade into microplastics that leach into food and beverages, posing potential health risks to consumers. It surveys the main plastic types used in the food industry, the health concerns associated with microplastic and additive exposure, and proposed solutions including biodegradable alternatives. The findings underscore that everyday food packaging is a significant and underappreciated source of microplastic exposure for the general public.

2023 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Migration of (non-) intentionally added substances and microplastics from microwavable plastic food containers

Researchers investigated the migration of chemicals and microplastics from microwavable plastic food containers into food simulants. They identified 42 intentionally added substances and over 100 non-intentionally added substances that migrated from the containers, with migration rates being higher in fatty food simulants and decreasing with repeated use, raising questions about potential health risks from everyday microwave container usage.

2021 Journal of Hazardous Materials 99 citations
Article Tier 2

Migration of microplastics from plastic packaging into foods and its potential threats on human health

This review examined how microplastics migrate from plastic food packaging into the foods we eat. Researchers found that factors like temperature, food acidity, and contact time increase the release of plastic particles and chemical additives from packaging materials. The study raises concerns about long-term health effects from daily microplastic exposure through packaged foods, including potential accumulation of harmful monomers in the body.

2023 Advances in food and nutrition research 44 citations
Article Tier 2

Environmental and health hazards of chemicals in plastic polymers and products

Researchers reviewed the environmental and health hazards of chemicals in plastic polymers and products, examining the toxicological profiles of monomers, additives, and degradation products that can leach from plastics into food, water, and the environment. The study identifies numerous plastic-associated chemicals with endocrine-disrupting, carcinogenic, or developmental toxicity potential and calls for more comprehensive safety testing of plastic formulations.

2011 Gothenburg University Publications Electronic Archive (Gothenburg University) 64 citations
Article Tier 2

Toxicity of plastic consumer products: a biological, chemical and social-ecological analysis

This study analyzed the toxic chemicals found in consumer plastic products, including additives, monomers, and processing by-products that can leach into food or the environment. The findings highlight that plastic toxicity extends beyond microplastic particles themselves — the chemicals embedded in plastics pose significant health risks through food packaging and environmental contamination.

2021
Article Tier 2

Micro (nano) Plastics Released from Plastic Food Containers

Researchers found that plastic food containers release micro- and nanoplastics into food under both hot-water and microwave heating, with the quantity increasing with repeated reuse, raising concerns about dietary exposure from everyday kitchen plastics.

2023 E3S Web of Conferences 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Hazardous chemicals in recycled and reusable plastic food packaging

This study examines how recycling and reusing plastics for food packaging can introduce hazardous chemicals, including endocrine disruptors and carcinogens, into food. Recycling concentrates chemical contaminants from previous uses, while reusable containers can leach harmful substances over repeated wash cycles. The findings highlight a tension between reducing plastic waste and ensuring food contact materials remain safe for human health.

2023 Cambridge Prisms Plastics 34 citations
Article Tier 2

Degradation of food-contact plastics in use: Effect of temperature and chemical composition

Researchers examined how common food-contact plastics (polypropylene, polyethylene, PET, and polycarbonate) degrade under conditions that mimic everyday use, including varying temperatures and chemical environments. The study found that elevated temperatures promoted oxidation and hydrolysis of these plastics, while both acidic and alkaline solutions enhanced surface degradation, potentially increasing microplastic release into food and beverages.

2025 Environmental Engineering Research 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Occurrence of meso/micro/nano plastics and plastic additives in food from food packaging.

This chapter reviewed the contamination of food by plastics from packaging materials, examining migration mechanisms for meso-, micro-, and nano-plastics and plastic additives, and discussing how food type, packaging material, and processing conditions influence contamination levels under current regulatory frameworks.

2023 Advances in food and nutrition research
Article Tier 2

Plastic additives and microplastics as emerging contaminants: Mechanisms and analytical assessment

Researchers reviewed how chemical additives mixed into plastics during manufacturing — including stabilizers, flame retardants, and plasticizers — can leach out throughout a plastic's lifecycle and pose risks to ecosystems and human health, with microplastics acting as carriers that concentrate and transport these hazardous chemicals.

2022 TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry 194 citations
Article Tier 2

Safety Issues of Microplastics Released from Food Contact Materials

This review examined safety concerns about microplastics migrating from food contact materials (packaging, containers, bottles) into food and beverages, finding evidence of human exposure through ingestion and highlighting the need for regulatory frameworks addressing plastic particle migration.

2023 Journal of Microbiology Biotechnology and Food Sciences 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Serving Healthy (?) Food on Toxic Plates

This study raises concerns about the potential health risks of food contact materials, examining how industrially produced plates and containers may leach toxic substances including plasticizers and heavy metals into food, posing risks that consumers are largely unaware of.

2023 Turkish Archives of Pediatrics 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Processes influencing the toxicity of microplastics ingested through the diet

This study investigated what happens to chemical additives in microplastics when the plastics go through cooking and human digestion. Researchers found that both culinary processes and gastrointestinal conditions caused plastics to release potentially harmful chemicals, including phthalates and bisphenol A, suggesting that microplastics in food may be a meaningful route for chemical exposure in people.

2024 Food Chemistry 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic Contamination in Food Processing: Role of Packaging Materials

This review examines how food packaging materials release microplastics into food products during production, storage, and transportation. Plastic containers, films, and wraps can shed tiny particles through mechanical wear, heat exposure, and chemical interactions with food. The findings highlight that packaging is a significant and often overlooked source of microplastic contamination in the food we eat.

2024 Food Science and Engineering 34 citations
Article Tier 2

Hazard Posed by Additives to Plastics upon Disintegration as Microplastics

Researchers reviewed the health hazards posed by chemical additives in plastics when they disintegrate into microplastics. The study found that additives such as colorants can have adverse health effects, and while regulations restrict harmful additives in food-grade plastics, microplastic fragmentation may release these chemicals into the environment in uncontrolled ways.

2025 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Hazardous metal additives in plastics and their environmental impacts

This review examines the environmental impacts of hazardous metal additives historically used in plastics, including arsenic, cadmium, chromium, and lead compounds. Researchers found that despite regulatory restrictions, these toxic additives persist in plastics still in circulation and in recycled goods, and they can leach into the environment as plastics degrade, posing risks to ecosystems and organisms.

2021 Environment International 323 citations
Article Tier 2

Effect of Non-Thermal Food Processing Techniques on Selected Packaging Materials

This review examines how emerging non-thermal food processing technologies affect packaging materials, finding that some treatments can cause migration of plastic additives and microplastics into food — a safety concern for consumers.

2022 Polymers 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Toxicity enhancement of microplastics released from food containers through thermal aging: Absorbing more serum proteins thus activating the innate immune response via actin polymerization

Researchers found that heating single-use food containers made of polypropylene, polyethylene, and polylactic acid with fatty food released microplastic particles that became more toxic after aging. The aged microplastics absorbed more blood proteins and triggered stronger immune responses by activating a process called actin polymerization in immune cells. This suggests that reheating food in plastic containers may release microplastics that are especially effective at provoking harmful immune reactions in the body.

2025 Environment International 5 citations
Review Tier 2

Occurrence and effects of plastic additives on marine environments and organisms: A review

This review examines chemical additives found in plastics, such as flame retardants, phthalates, and bisphenol A, and how they leach into the marine environment as plastics accumulate and fragment. Researchers summarize evidence showing that these additives have been detected in marine water, sediment, and organisms, and can transfer from ingested plastic into animal tissues. The findings highlight that the chemical risk from plastic additives deserves as much attention as the physical impacts of microplastic particles themselves.

2017 Chemosphere 1204 citations
Article Tier 2

A Regional Approach For Health Risk Assessment of Toxicants in Plastic Food Containers

A study in Vietnam assessed health risks from chemical exposure through plastic food containers, surveying 309 people and testing 59 samples. Researchers found that many containers leached hazardous chemicals at levels that posed a potential health risk, especially for children. The findings highlight the need for stricter regulations on plastic food packaging in developing countries.

2021
Article Tier 2

Tackling the toxics in plastics packaging

This review addresses the issue of hazardous chemicals migrating from plastic food packaging into food, including endocrine disrupters, carcinogens, and untested synthetic compounds. The author argues that current toxicity assessment methods for packaging chemicals are inadequate and that plastic packaging is an avoidable source of dietary chemical exposure. The study calls for systemic changes in how food packaging safety is regulated to address both plastic pollution and chemical contamination.

2021 PLoS Biology 80 citations
Article Tier 2

Assessing the Migration of BPA and Phthalic Acid from Take-out Food Containers: Implications for Health and Environmental Sustainability in India

Researchers developed an analytical method to measure how much bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalic acid migrate from common plastic food containers into food simulants under realistic temperature conditions, finding that prolonged heat exposure substantially increased leaching — especially from polyethylene pouches. A microbial bioassay further confirmed the mutagenic potential of the migrated plasticizers, strengthening the evidence that plastic food packaging poses direct chemical risks to human health.

2023 Journal of Experimental Biology and Agricultural Sciences