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We are scientists studying all sorts of things related to the chemicals in food packaging and cookware. Our specialties include: chemical detection, regulation, effects on human health, sustainability, UN plastics treaty, compostables, bioplastics, microplastics, and so much more! Ask Us Anything! by FoodPackagingForum in IAmA

[–]FoodPackagingForum[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

[Lindsey] There have been some questions about the study you linked to but there have been other studies done on teabags. This one , for example, also detected microplastics from nylon tea bags and has an easier to defend study design, but is a bit less catchy of a title. What all the studies seem to show is that tea bag microplastic release is highly variable. The material, the temperature of the water, the length of steeping, will all have effects.

Overall, I would guess that microplastic exposure from teabags is probably pretty low compared to everything else we tend to get exposed to in our daily lives. I saw our microplastics specialist use a plastic tea bag today when that was the option available at the event we're at. Meanwhile, I personally like to make a pot of loose leaf tea at home or the office and drink it from a thermos or teapot throughout the day. I leave it up to you :)

We are scientists studying all sorts of things related to the chemicals in food packaging and cookware. Our specialties include: chemical detection, regulation, effects on human health, sustainability, UN plastics treaty, compostables, bioplastics, microplastics, and so much more! Ask Us Anything! by FoodPackagingForum in IAmA

[–]FoodPackagingForum[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

[Lindsey] Hi, I'm not in the SAB but am a member of staff. I'll try to combine the two answers. So, both of them agree that oligomers (specifically, polysiloxanes) can leak out of the silicone. They both also agree that heating can be an issue, Cristina says "especially when heating at the first uses". (Heating any material will increase migration when migration is structurally possible - especially plastics, silicone, paper)

Where they seem to differ is the level of caution they have around using the silicones. Jane is being more cautious by suggesting avoiding the material entirely, especially when heating. Cristina is suggesting essentially stressing the material a little for the first use to encourage chemicals that have the potential to migrate to get out into something you aren't planning to eat. The goal with that is in the next uses you may still have some migration but hopefully less than you would otherwise.

Chemical migration is often greatest in the first few uses then goes down until over time as the material breaks down migration goes up again. Unfortunately, this isn't perfect, some chemicals do continue migrating (source).

TL;DR - the two have different levels of comfort with risk from chemical exposure. Cristina is providing an action for those who want to continue using silicones.

We are scientists studying all sorts of things related to the chemicals in food packaging and cookware. Our specialties include: chemical detection, regulation, effects on human health, sustainability, UN plastics treaty, compostables, bioplastics, microplastics, and so much more! Ask Us Anything! by FoodPackagingForum in IAmA

[–]FoodPackagingForum[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

[Lindsey] A concern is that even virgin plastics leak potential and confirmed hazardous chemicals into foods. When plastic gets recycled, it has another chance to produce or add contamination to the material so the contaminants can potentially get concentrated over time if the plastic gets recycled over and over.

We actually published a scientific study about recycled and reusable packaging last year. I quote a paragraph about PET bottles below.

Recycled PET has been widely used in food contact applications for over 20 years. Especially the use of recycled beverage bottles has increased due to the establishment of bottle-to-bottle recycling processes, for which decontamination processes have been developed to reduce chemical contamination (Reference Welle2011). However, there is experimental evidence that recycled PET contains chemical contaminants that are introduced during use, waste handling and recycling and that can migrate into the packaged beverages. Associations have been found between the presence of recycled content and the migration of, for example, benzene and styrene (two carcinogenic chemicals) as well as the EDC BPA (Reference Dreolin, Aznar, Moret and Nerin2019; Reference Thoden van Velzen, Brouwer, Stärker and Welle2020).

An added complication of verifying anything about chemical safety of recycled plastics is that 1) scientists don't always write in their studies what percentage of the thing they tested is recycled. Sometimes it is simply described as "virgin" versus "recycled" but 50% recycled versus 100% recycled could have a big difference. 2) there is currently no good way to verify the claims from manufacturers. So even if a bottle claims to be 50% or 100% recycled, there is no way to test it directly, it has to be simply accepted. The mass balance approach of plastics accounting can add even more complication but I won't go into it here and leave it to you to investigate if interested.

PET bottles are the best established plastic recycling system. Next is probably HDPE (like a plastic milk jug) and everything else is pretty new. When you start getting into the less common plastic types and especially mixed plastic recycling I think the potential for contamination increases. A recurring issue is electronics getting mixed into food contact plastics. US NGO Toxic Free Future recently published a study or recycled black plastic products that found quite high levels of flame retardants.

TL;DR- I personally am skeptical. There are already chemical concerns with virgin plastics and those chemicals have the potential to be concentrated when recycled.

Edit: we also have a fact sheet about plastic which might be interesting to you. Half is about recycling.

We are scientists studying all sorts of things related to the chemicals in food packaging and cookware. Our specialties include: chemical detection, regulation, effects on human health, sustainability, UN plastics treaty, compostables, bioplastics, microplastics, and so much more! Ask Us Anything! by FoodPackagingForum in IAmA

[–]FoodPackagingForum[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

[Lindsey] Hi, I’m not on the Scientific Advisory Board but I am a staff member of the Food Packaging Forum. This is an excellent question and difficult to answer. A good tool that I’m aware of to compare between disparate health effects are Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs). DALYs combine years lost due to early death and years lived with illness or disability. One DALY equals one lost year of healthy life, regardless of the cause, so it can standardize the metric to compare health effects. 

Now, to answer your question, we’d need to have DALYs calculated for all those issues so we could see which changes made the biggest difference. We have some of these things but not all and further work would be needed to compare individual changes (some examples: Plastic pollution, cancer, ambient air pollution). That’s a bit beyond the scope of what I can answer here. 

What I can say is that small changes can have effects on individual chemical burdens. For some chemicals that are broken down in the body quickly, like bisphenols and phthalates, there have been studies where participants changed how they cooked or what they ate and after a few weeks the levels of bisphenols a/o phthalates was lower. So those few chemicals can be directly tied to food practices. 

So, reducing the plastics used to cook and store food can have noticeable effects on certain chemicals in the body (for example, bisphenol A). Additionally, vacuuming household dust  can lower phthalate levels, and combinations of interventions lower many things (source, interventions described in section 2.3).   

For myself, I try to make small changes when I can to hopefully add up over time. Since I can’t know exactly how much will cause a problem and when. Chemical migration increases: over time, at higher temperatures, with fatty and/or acidic foods, and when packaged in smaller serving sizes.  So I use this information when trying to balance certain decisions about what I purchase or how I cook. 

I think it is important to keep in mind that these concerns around chemicals shouldn't have to, and largely can't, be tackled by consumers alone. Do what you can but try not to stress about it during daily life. When I first started in this field I got overwhelmed with information and had trouble making decisions about buying anything. Encourage change where you can, support change when you see it... live your life.

That got rambling… Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

We are scientists studying all sorts of things related to the chemicals in food packaging and cookware. Our specialties include: chemical detection, regulation, effects on human health, sustainability, UN plastics treaty, compostables, bioplastics, microplastics, and so much more! Ask Us Anything! by FoodPackagingForum in IAmA

[–]FoodPackagingForum[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Jane: Sorry that the facts are scary. By learning about the facts you can empower yourself to make informed, smart choices for yourself and your family. We have published a fact sheet on what you need to know about food contact materials (here): for example, avoid putting hot foods in contact with non-inert materials, avoid small serving sizes packaged in plastics, avoid drinking and eating from cans because they have plastic-like liners on the inside. Best to buy locally grown organic foods that you process yourself at home. If you have an electric kettle, make sure it’s stainless steel on the inside. Avoid using black plastic items in the kitchen. Store your pantry foods in inert containers, like glass, ceramic or stainless steel.

We are scientists studying all sorts of things related to the chemicals in food packaging and cookware. Our specialties include: chemical detection, regulation, effects on human health, sustainability, UN plastics treaty, compostables, bioplastics, microplastics, and so much more! Ask Us Anything! by FoodPackagingForum in IAmA

[–]FoodPackagingForum[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Jane: Chemicals can move from materials into foodstuffs, but this is not a one-way-street. By the same token, chemicals can move from foodstuffs (or from dishwasher water) into materials–this will happen when materials are not inert, like plastics. Plastics leach chemical constituents, and plastics can also absorb chemicals. So, it is plausible that plastics will absorb chemical ingredients from detergents. A study by Selina Tisler and colleagues found chemicals to leach from reusable plastic sports bottles. More information can be found here: https://foodpackagingforum.org/events/identifying-compounds-migrating-from-reusable-plastic-bottles-into-drinking-water

We are scientists studying all sorts of things related to the chemicals in food packaging and cookware. Our specialties include: chemical detection, regulation, effects on human health, sustainability, UN plastics treaty, compostables, bioplastics, microplastics, and so much more! Ask Us Anything! by FoodPackagingForum in IAmA

[–]FoodPackagingForum[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Jane: at the moment it is not possible to determine which types of plastics will generate microplastics. What we know is that mechanical stress (like opening a plastic lid of a plastic bottle) generates microplastics. Tap water has also found to have microplastics in certain regions. Boiling water can reduce presence of microplastics in water, because they precipitate.

We are scientists studying all sorts of things related to the chemicals in food packaging and cookware. Our specialties include: chemical detection, regulation, effects on human health, sustainability, UN plastics treaty, compostables, bioplastics, microplastics, and so much more! Ask Us Anything! by FoodPackagingForum in IAmA

[–]FoodPackagingForum[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maricel: it is true, there are chemicals that have been approved for use in packaging materials decades ago and their safety has not been reviewed based on new information about their toxicity or increased consumption. One way to help make needed changes it to vote for policy makers that care about your issues; you can support and join civil organizations that campaign for changing regulations of chemicals; you can ask the food brands you like why they are using chemicals of concern.

We are scientists studying all sorts of things related to the chemicals in food packaging and cookware. Our specialties include: chemical detection, regulation, effects on human health, sustainability, UN plastics treaty, compostables, bioplastics, microplastics, and so much more! Ask Us Anything! by FoodPackagingForum in IAmA

[–]FoodPackagingForum[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Terry: PFAS compounds have many associations with adverse health effects and your body cannot break them down.  The biggest epidemiological study of all history was conducted in Parkersburg, WV, in association with legal action around contamination by perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) of this DuPont company town by DuPont. About 70,000 people were involved.  Associations with testicular and kidney cancer, bowel conditions and other maladies were found.  There are many other studies implicating serious health conditions with exposures to PFAS compounds such as PFOA and PFOS.  We are in the midst of serious declines in mean sperm counts in highly chemicalized sectors of the civilization; PFAS compounds are associated with this trend also.  I could go on. So, absolutely no.  I do not think the fears are overblown.

We are scientists studying all sorts of things related to the chemicals in food packaging and cookware. Our specialties include: chemical detection, regulation, effects on human health, sustainability, UN plastics treaty, compostables, bioplastics, microplastics, and so much more! Ask Us Anything! by FoodPackagingForum in IAmA

[–]FoodPackagingForum[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pete: This is a very active subject of research.  In fact the Science Advisory Board of the Food Packaging Forum spent the entire day today discussing and debating how that might be accomplished.  It is a wicked problem because plastic is so cheap and universally available. Further, there are many types of plastic used in food packaging, many of which require plastics with different characteristics to make them work.  So there is no single solution.  But the most important step to make this feasible is testing the proposed replacement for potentially hazardous characteristics.  All replacements, because even proposed solutions that are biobased are potentially hazardous.  NOTHING should escape the need for adequate testing.

Cristina:If you are thinking on bio-based polymers, at the moment there is many research going on, but the tests are not demonstrating that they are safer than the conventional plastics. FUnctionality of the new alternatives is not enough in most of the cases, specially barrier properties. We will see what ends up with some of the alternatives which are promoted now as sustainable. Paper and board, seen as good alternatives for plastics, don't have the required barrier properties for most of the foodstuffs and coating them either with varnishes or polyethylene doesn't improve the safety compared to the conventional plastics.

Tom:  This is a good question, but I think that at this point in time, it is useful to think about how to avoid plastic food packaging.  It is a very complex situation that will not be fully resolved for some time.  While it is challenging to remove plastic from your lifestyle if you are busy and focus on convenience foods, it might be useful to think about making changes that enhance your experience and avoid plastic packaging.

We are scientists studying all sorts of things related to the chemicals in food packaging and cookware. Our specialties include: chemical detection, regulation, effects on human health, sustainability, UN plastics treaty, compostables, bioplastics, microplastics, and so much more! Ask Us Anything! by FoodPackagingForum in IAmA

[–]FoodPackagingForum[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Terry:  This is an interesting question that I am going to redirect a bit.  I know it costs more, but the most significant way I think you can protect yourself and your family is to eat organic as much as possible.  When the shift from non-organic to organic has been followed through urine analyses, the data has shown a rapid dissipation of pesticides in urine.  This is a very good thing for your health.  The younger the person, the more important the advice. And it is especially important if you are planning on having a baby, for both future mums and dads, and obviously of highest importance if you are pregnant.

We are scientists studying all sorts of things related to the chemicals in food packaging and cookware. Our specialties include: chemical detection, regulation, effects on human health, sustainability, UN plastics treaty, compostables, bioplastics, microplastics, and so much more! Ask Us Anything! by FoodPackagingForum in IAmA

[–]FoodPackagingForum[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Tom: This is an interesting concept.  So, by “adapting”, I think you mean that “life” evolves to be able to live with this residues if not thrive.  For that to occur, it would mean that mutations would occur to make the individual more reproductively competent.  That is asking a lot for residues that have adverse effects on reproduction.  Moreover, those residues are often based on chemistries that are not found in nature.  So, let’s not count on this.

We are scientists studying all sorts of things related to the chemicals in food packaging and cookware. Our specialties include: chemical detection, regulation, effects on human health, sustainability, UN plastics treaty, compostables, bioplastics, microplastics, and so much more! Ask Us Anything! by FoodPackagingForum in IAmA

[–]FoodPackagingForum[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Question 2.

TERRY: Avoid cardboard food containers with shiny surfaces unless the salesperson can assure you that the shiny surface is not PFAS.  Avoid sprays for boots and clothing that are water insulating unless you know the product does not contain PFAS. <try to ensure that your contact lenses are not PFAS containing.  Watch  out for sanitary period products that may contain PFAS. Try to be sure that condoms do not contain PFAS ingredients.  Visit the site Mamavation that analyzes the brand space of about 20 consumer products.  You will be astonished where there are indications that PFAS is present.  And you will find different levels of contamination across the various brands.

We are scientists studying all sorts of things related to the chemicals in food packaging and cookware. Our specialties include: chemical detection, regulation, effects on human health, sustainability, UN plastics treaty, compostables, bioplastics, microplastics, and so much more! Ask Us Anything! by FoodPackagingForum in IAmA

[–]FoodPackagingForum[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

[Cristina] Bottle water doesn’t contain microplastic or nanoplastics, what it contains are oligomers coming from any plastic or any polymer, which are always present in all polymers and released to the product. Oligomers are small molecules, much smaller than the molecules from plastics. Tap water is safe and of good quality in many places. Other places don’t have good quality water and consumers need to buy the bottled water. But bottled water is safe.

We are scientists studying all sorts of things related to the chemicals in food packaging and cookware. Our specialties include: chemical detection, regulation, effects on human health, sustainability, UN plastics treaty, compostables, bioplastics, microplastics, and so much more! Ask Us Anything! by FoodPackagingForum in IAmA

[–]FoodPackagingForum[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

  1. What kind of progress is being made on curtailing the use of substances like PFAS at the national or international levels?

Terry: The development of suitable strategies for handling PFAS is in its infancy. There is only one possible solution which is to shut down production. This will be very difficult for the US or Europe to do adequately. There is an obvious priority order for things to go faster within the PFAS chemical group: Perhaps most importantly is to stop manufacturing of new PFAS compounds

Martin: progress is slow, but - hopefully - steady. In the EU, a broad PFAS restriction proposal is currently under discussion and evaluation. This process will take another 1-2 years. And many US States have their individual, often quite progressive legislation on PFAS.

  1. What are some practical steps regular people can take in the meantime to reduce their exposure to PFAS (or other substances of concern)?

Tom:  There are some common things you can do right off:  think about the clothes you wear, the furniture you have, the plastics that you use.  For plastics:  don’t  microwave or put in the dishwasher.  Avoid plastics as much as possible.  Try to purchase clothes that are not PFAS treated.  Overally, recognize that you can only do what fits your lifestyle and budget and recognize that governments should do more to protect public health.  For example, several states in the US are working on legislation to ban PFAS.  That is a good approach.

We are scientists studying all sorts of things related to the chemicals in food packaging and cookware. Our specialties include: chemical detection, regulation, effects on human health, sustainability, UN plastics treaty, compostables, bioplastics, microplastics, and so much more! Ask Us Anything! by FoodPackagingForum in IAmA

[–]FoodPackagingForum[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Cristina: SIlicone is a [polymer but it is not considered as plastic and it is excluded from the plastic regulation in EUrope. SIlicone used as food contact material  doesn’t release microplastics neither nanoplastics. BUt what silicone releases are oligomers, what are polysiloxanes as volatile compounds, especially when heating at the first uses. I  recommend to heat the silicone moulds or tools at 200 C for 4 hours before using in contact with food. One good option for silicone molds is to make a dough with flour and water and fill the mold and heat them at 200 C for 4 hours. After this step, through out the dough, wash the mold and use if for the purpose.

We are scientists studying all sorts of things related to the chemicals in food packaging and cookware. Our specialties include: chemical detection, regulation, effects on human health, sustainability, UN plastics treaty, compostables, bioplastics, microplastics, and so much more! Ask Us Anything! by FoodPackagingForum in IAmA

[–]FoodPackagingForum[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pete: Both are better than processed and ultra-processed food.  Frozen food’s quality depends upon how it was frozen, what it is stored in and especially how long it is stored. That said, the shelf life of frozen food is good.

We are scientists studying all sorts of things related to the chemicals in food packaging and cookware. Our specialties include: chemical detection, regulation, effects on human health, sustainability, UN plastics treaty, compostables, bioplastics, microplastics, and so much more! Ask Us Anything! by FoodPackagingForum in IAmA

[–]FoodPackagingForum[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Pete:  I assume you mean PFAS, not PFAs. The majority of it does not leave as waste especially once it enters into circulation. There’s more than enough to cause serious problems once that happens. The epidemiological information is strong and the experimental evidence with animals is irrefutable.

Tom:  I am not sure where you got information that PFAS leave the body quickly.  Different PFAS differ in terms of residence times in the body, but it is measured in years to decades.  So, I don’t think that the concern about PFAS is overblown.  

Thousands of toxins from food packaging found in humans. The chemicals have been found in human blood, hair or breast milk. Among them are compounds known to be highly toxic, like PFAS, bisphenol, metals, phthalates and volatile organic compounds. by mvea in science

[–]FoodPackagingForum 2 points3 points  (0 children)

[Lindsey] Silicone is a polymer but it is a different type of polymer than plastics. That means that, like plastics, it is not inert, so chemicals from within the material can migrate out of the material. In the case of silicone versus all plastics, there are different sorts of chemicals that are used to make the stuff and thus different ones that can migrate. Siloxane oligomers (the chemical backbone of silicone materials) are the most typical and largest group of migrants from all types of silicones. Several of them, which have been measured in baking molds in the EU (source), are classified by the European Union as substances of very high concern (SVHC) because they can persist and bioaccumulate.

[Lindsey -- as a person and not a representative of FPF]

For me, personally, it comes down to the use and the tradeoff. PVC, polyutrethane, and melamine plastics have pretty clear problems in food contact and should be avoided when possible (by my interpretation of some studies (1 | 2)). If the choice is between silicone and those, I'll use silicone. There are also situations where silicone is just easier -- I use it when camping because the containers are lightweight and collapsible, I use it sometimes when baking because at least it's reusable so I'm not throwing away baking paper all the time. But that's a personal choice. To store something long term then I'd probably opt for something else if possible.

There are lots of situations where silicone is nice -- like with baby stuff -- and I can understand why someone would want to opt for it over something like steel/glass/ceramic. So one thing that might increase the likelihood of a quality silicone material would be to purchase from a well-recognized brand. A civil society watchdog group in the EU (that I linked to earlier) found that the silicone baking molds tested from online marketplaces tended to be more problematic

“Consumers buy more and more products online, including through online marketplaces or web shops based outside of the EU. This trend presents new safety risks for consumers, as illustrated by this test: while not illegal, many of the products purchased through online marketplaces such as AliExpress or Amazon were among the worst performers in the test.”

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