{"id":77879,"date":"2024-02-14T07:03:39","date_gmt":"2024-02-14T07:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cucineditalia.com\/?p=77879"},"modified":"2024-02-14T07:03:43","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T07:03:43","slug":"health-threat-plastic-contamination-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cucineditalia.com\/en\/health-threat-plastic-contamination-food\/","title":{"rendered":"The Health Threat of Plastic Contamination in Food"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Approximately 450 million tons of plastic are produced annually, and it is estimated that production will reach\u00a01.2 billion tons by 2060.\u00a0Plastic has become ubiquitous in daily life, ranking as the third most widely produced material globally, following steel and cement.<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Numerous studies have highlighted, in addition to well-known\u00a0environmental consequences,<\/strong>\u00a0that the safety levels for humans, as established by U.S. and European authorities, do not align with recent research. The risk is significant, especially considering the complexity resulting from the migration of chemical substances\u2014from production to transformation, packaging to transportation.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What repercussions do food-grade plastics have on our bodies? According to Consumer Reports<\/strong>, they lurk in everyday foods. In what quantities? And with what consequences?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumer Reports<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Consumer Reports, an independent nonprofit organization <\/strong>founded in 1936, dedicated to impartial product research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Study by Consumer Reports<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The research focused on the quantity of bisphenols and phthalates in food. Two or three samples of\u00a085 packaged foods were analyzed, including 67 from supermarkets and 18 from fast-food outlets.<\/strong>\u00a0They encompass various food categories such as baked goods, beverages<\/a>, condiments, fruits and vegetables, baby food, meat and fish, milk and other dairy products, vegetable oils, and typical fast-food items, packaged in bags, aluminum foil, trays, cellophane, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Out of 85 products, a staggering 84 were found to be contaminated.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While bisphenols<\/strong> were detected in 79% of the analyzed samples, the levels were significantly lower than in the last analysis conducted in 2009. Phthalates were present in all foods except one\u2014the Polar raspberry and lime seltzer\u2014with much higher levels than bisphenols. Although they did not exceed the limits set by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are widely consumed foods, recognized brands worldwide,<\/strong> such as Del Monte, Lipton, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Gatorade, Yoplait, and even fast-food chains like Burger King and McDonald’s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, some brands\u2014Del Monte, Gerber, and McDonald’s\u2014stated adherence to existing regulations.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

However, according to the scientist supervising the tests, Tunde Akinleye, “many of these thresholds<\/strong> do not reflect current scientific knowledge and may not protect against all potential health effects.” Ami Zota, an associate professor of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York, who has studied phthalate risks, reinforces this by stating that the decision to allow the use of these chemicals in food is “not validated by scientific studies.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Determining an acceptable level for these chemicals in food is challenging <\/strong>due to exposure from various stages of the food chain\u2014from production to processing, packaging to transportation, and other sources like thermal receipts, dust, and water. Therefore, quantifying a “safe” limit for each individual food item is challenging. “The more we learn about these chemicals, including their ubiquity, the clearer it becomes that they can harm us even at very low levels,” says Akinleye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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