We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track
Papers
61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Hazardous chemicals in recycled and reusable plastic food packaging
ClearTackling 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.
Unexpected possible consequences of plastic packaging reuse
Researchers warn that reusing plastic food packaging — promoted as an environmentally friendly alternative to single-use plastics — may carry hidden risks, as repeated washing, mechanical stress, and aging can cause plastics to leach more chemicals and shed more microplastic particles into food. This raises important questions about whether reuse policies designed to cut plastic waste may inadvertently increase chemical and microplastic exposure through food contact.
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.
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.
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.
Assessing the environmental and health impacts of plastic production and recycling
This review summarizes how plastic production and recycling both contribute to pollution and health problems, noting that plastics contain chemical additives like phthalates and bisphenols linked to hormone disruption and reproductive issues. The authors highlight that even recycling generates some pollutants, and the growing accumulation of microplastics in food and water raises additional health concerns.
Plastics and persistent chemical contaminants in food waste: challenges for the circular economy
Researchers reviewed the presence of microplastics, PFAS, flame retardants, and phthalates in food waste, finding contamination levels up to 300,000 particles per kilogram. The study highlights that current food waste valorization methods seldom remove these persistent contaminants effectively, raising concerns about recycling food waste into compost or other products without proper monitoring.
Fingerprinting risk from recycled plastic products using physical and chemical properties
This study compared recycled plastic products intended for food and skin contact with new (virgin) plastic products and found that recycled plastics contained significantly higher levels of hazardous chemicals, including 10 times more metals and 3 times more cancer-linked compounds. The health risk from ingesting microplastics shed by recycled plastics was calculated to be twice as high as from new plastics. These findings raise important questions about the safety of recycled plastic products that come into contact with food or skin.
Plastic Food Container Safety.
Researchers reviewed the safety of plastic food containers, examining how stored food interacts with plastics, plasticizers, and chemical additives. They found that these containers are not completely inert and can leach varying levels of metals and chemicals into foods during storage. The study suggests that consumers should be aware of the potential for chemical migration from plastic containers, particularly under certain storage conditions.
PAH and POP Presence in Plastic Waste and Recyclates: State of the Art
This review examines the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and persistent organic pollutants including brominated flame retardants, pesticides, and dioxins in plastic waste and recyclates. The authors conclude that chemical contamination in recycled plastics poses a significant challenge to achieving a safe circular economy for plastics.
Addressing the toxic chemicals problem in plastics recycling
This study highlights the challenge of toxic chemicals in plastics recycling, noting that plastics contain hundreds of different chemicals including plasticizers, stabilizers, and pigments, many of which are hazardous. Researchers found that because the chemical composition of plastic waste is largely unknown, recyclers cannot effectively screen out materials containing dangerous substances. The authors propose five policy strategies, including improved chemical transparency, simplified regulations, and economic incentives, to make plastics recycling safer.
Microplastic: Its Effect on Human Health
This review outlines how microplastics from single-use packaging, bottles, and consumer goods enter the food chain through ingestion and inhalation, serving as carriers for toxic chemical additives and adsorbed pollutants that pose risks to human health.
Marine Litter Plastics and Microplastics and Their Toxic Chemicals Components
This review examined the chemical hazards posed by marine plastic litter and microplastics, focusing on persistent organic pollutants, flame retardants, plasticisers, and endocrine-disrupting additives that can leach from plastic polymers into marine food webs. The authors concluded that both the physical and chemical toxicity of marine plastics represent a serious and undercharacterised threat to biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and human health via seafood consumption.
Waste plastic management: Recycling and the environmental health nexus
Researchers reviewed plastic recycling methods and their health and environmental trade-offs, finding that mechanical recycling releases microplastics that can enter the body through inhalation and ingestion, and calling for smarter waste management systems and reduced use of toxic plastic additives.
Examination of plastic’s hazards to human health underway
This study examined the multiple health hazards that plastics pose to humans across their entire life cycle, from fossil fuel extraction used as feedstocks through everyday use and disposal, conducting a comprehensive interdisciplinary analysis of exposure pathways and associated health effects.
Microplastics in the Food Chain
This review examines how microplastics enter the food chain through water, soil, and air contamination during agricultural production, post-harvest handling, processing, and packaging, with endocrine-disrupting chemicals like bisphenols and phthalates posing significant health risks.
Compostable and recycled plastics do not improve environmental chemical safety compared to conventional single-use polyethylene.
Seven commercial compostable plastic bag brands and three polyethylene bag brands were assessed for chemical safety, finding that compostable and recycled plastics did not consistently reduce chemical hazards compared to conventional plastics. Many compostable materials leached potentially toxic compounds, challenging the assumption that they are environmentally safer alternatives.
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.
From packaging to plate: Environmental pollution and human exposure pathways of plastic-derived contaminants
This review synthesizes evidence on how plastic food packaging contributes to environmental pollution and human exposure to microplastics, nanoplastics, and chemical additives. The study highlights that packaging-derived contaminants enter the body through contaminated seafood and direct contact, and that microplastics can serve as ecological niches for microbial biofilms that harbor pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes.
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.
Potential risk assessment and toxicological impacts of nano/micro-plastics on human health through food products
This review examined the potential risks and toxicological effects of nano- and microplastics on human health through food products, identifying key contamination sources in the food chain and their harmful impacts on the body.
Microplastics in human food chains: Food becoming a threat to health safety
This review traces how microplastics enter the human food chain through both animal and plant sources, food packaging, and beverages. Once consumed, microplastics can accumulate in tissues and release harmful chemicals like plasticizers and heavy metals inside the body. The study emphasizes that food has become a major exposure pathway for microplastics and calls for stricter regulation of plastic use in food production and packaging.
Microplastics in food packaging: Analytical methods, health risks, and sustainable alternatives
This review examines how microplastics from food packaging materials can migrate into the food we eat during storage and handling. It evaluates analytical methods for detecting this contamination and suggests biodegradable polymers as promising eco-friendly alternatives, while noting that standardized testing methods and risk assessment frameworks are still needed.
Adverse Health Effects of Plastics
This review summarizes the adverse health effects associated with plastic exposure, including endocrine disruption, inflammation, and potential carcinogenicity from plastic additives and microplastic particles. It provides an accessible overview of mechanisms by which plastics can harm human health across multiple organ systems.