Consumer Reports Finds 'Widespread' Presence of Plastics In Food (reuters.com) 37
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Consumer Reports has found that plastics retain a "widespread" presence in food despite the health risks, and called on regulators to reassess the safety of plastics that come into contact with food during production. The non-profit consumer group said on Thursday that 84 out of 85 supermarket foods and fast foods it recently tested contained "plasticizers" known as phthalates, a chemical used to make plastic more durable. It also said 79% of food samples in its study contained bisphenol A (BPA), another chemical found in plastic, and other bisphenols, though levels were lower than in tests done in 2009.
Consumer Reports said none of the phthalate levels it found exceeded limits set by U.S. and European regulators. It also said there was no level of phthalates that scientists confirm is safe, but that does not guarantee the safety of foods you eat. Phthalates and bisphenols can disrupt the production and regulation of estrogen and other hormones, potentially boosting the risk of birth defects, cancer, diabetes, infertility, neurodevelopmental disorders, obesity and other health problems. Among tested supermarket foods, Annie's Organic Cheesy Ravioli contained the most phthalates in nanograms per serving, 53,579, followed by Del Monte sliced peaches and Chicken of the Sea pink salmon.
Consumer Reports said none of the phthalate levels it found exceeded limits set by U.S. and European regulators. It also said there was no level of phthalates that scientists confirm is safe, but that does not guarantee the safety of foods you eat. Phthalates and bisphenols can disrupt the production and regulation of estrogen and other hormones, potentially boosting the risk of birth defects, cancer, diabetes, infertility, neurodevelopmental disorders, obesity and other health problems. Among tested supermarket foods, Annie's Organic Cheesy Ravioli contained the most phthalates in nanograms per serving, 53,579, followed by Del Monte sliced peaches and Chicken of the Sea pink salmon.
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You should see what they found in your mom. Eww.
How are these chemicals getting into foods? (Score:4, Informative)
How are these chemicals getting into foods? BPA should only be used in polycarbonate and epoxy (some can linings). Though to be clear, the replacement can linings are not necessarily safe just as the replacements for BPA do not appear to be safe. Is it all coming from can linings or are there other sources?
To be clear, you are exposed to can linings when you eat in restaurants. Food service companies like Sysco deliver 5 kg cans of ingredients as well as ready made foods. In most of the industrialized world, your typical restaurant does not use a lot of fresh ingredients. I imagine the salads are fresh.
Phthalates are plasticizers, most commonly used to turn the hard PVC of piping into the soft PVC (or "vinyl") of plastic pouches, tubing, and that plastic sheeting some shops hang in the doorway so they can keep some of their air conditioning in even while leaving the door open. Plasticized PVC is not a food safe material, so are these companies breaking the law? They should have regular inspections from the FDA that dissuade them from doing this. What other plastics contain phthalates?
Re:How are these chemicals getting into foods? (Score:5, Informative)
From TFA (the first one):
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And then at the point of preparation and consumption there's plastic cutting boards, plastic holding trays, plastic frames on lettuce choppers, plastic counter tops, plastic trays, plastic plates...
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Re:How are these chemicals getting into foods? (Score:4, Informative)
But the thing is, most plastics don't use plasticizers. For example, of the standard recyclable plastic numbers 1-6, only PVC uses a plasticizer. So even that bargain basement "vegetable oil" in a PET bottle theoretically shouldn't be leeching plasticizers.
But another poster replied saying it's from the processing. I would have assumed PVC is not approved for food contact, but it seems I'm wrong. The root of the problem is that the FDA allows this contamination:
The FDA currently allows nine phthalates in food contact applications (eight for use as plasticizers and one for use as a monomer) in the production of food contact polymers. Phthalates are not authorized to be directly added to food.
From https://www.fda.gov/food/food-... [fda.gov]. But it looks like they may be about to improve:
The FDA is currently reviewing [submitted comments] and may use this information to update the dietary exposure estimates and safety assessments for the permitted food contact uses of phthalates.
This will never improve until it's legislated. I don't know enough about materials to say what should replace PVC, epoxy, and polycarbonate.
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Just about every plastic contains plasticisers; the clue's in the name. Without plasticisers, you end up with something like bakelite, i.e. hard & brittle.
Only PVC is hard and brittle without plasticizers. Plastics are plastic already. The clue's in the name.
One reason I stopped eating out (Score:2)
Food service companies like Sysco deliver 5 kg cans of ingredients as well as ready made foods.
And FSA, now USFoods and all the foodservice companies service nearly every diner, roadside, tavern, bar and inn nearly anywhere that doesn't "source" their ingredients. It's like Taco Bell, all the same stuff in different combinations and proportions.
It's actually quite amazing, In their catalogs (the one I saw was FSA) you can get every kind of french fry you've ever had in a sit down restaurant in the USA or 5 kinds of fried shrimps or slaw or chicken strips, 5 kinds of blue cheese dressing. Bagged salad
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the replacements for BPA do not appear to be safe
I am glad you point this out. This is why people should not have campaigned against it. It was the safest chemical for that purpose. Same thing with Thimerosal [cdc.gov] in vaccines.
Everyone needs to understand that when they demand a ban on a chemical, they are actually demanding that it be replaced with something else. question isn't "is this chemical bad?" but "is it better than the alternatives?"
Go Back To Glass. (Score:5, Insightful)
Sorry guys, you will have to find something else to do with your crude oil leftovers.
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Toothpaste tubes were metallic (Score:3)
You don't use glass for squeezable tubes, you use metal.
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While I agree that a study would be useful to know all the factors in play... getting plastics out of the food packaging process seems to me as better for our health.
I'm not an anti plastic nut, I know plastics have a place in medical equipment (insulin pens, catheters) and waterproofing etc etc. but it just doesn't go away and either remains as large trash or microscope contaminate. Luckily where I live policies have started to reduce plastic... there are initiatives to reduce plastic shopping bags and bra
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Well, if you're over 60 you remember a time when there was almost no plastic in the supermarket. Everything came in glass, cardboard or paper. Ketchup bottles were glass, not polypropylene. Meat didn't come sandwiched between a styrofoam tray and PVC kling wrap. You picked it out from a chilled display and the butcher would wrap it in wax-impregnated paper.
The thing is all things we use plastic for have a purpose -- to let us see what we're buying; to reduce labor costs; to increase shelf life. And to g
"No safe level" (Score:3)
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It is obnoxious, but it seems to often be true. I don't know about this case. However, that statement gives no clue as to how dangerous for what. And when I read the summary it sounded like "we haven't run tests sensitive enough to detect small problems". This is actually quite a reasonable thing, even if it is annoying. If you aren't sure what the problem would be, if there were one, then it's quite difficult to look for it, and small effect require large studies to detect, even if tuned to detect the
The money quote (Score:2)
Consumer Reports said none of the phthalate levels it found exceeded limits set by U.S. and European regulators.
Health risks? (Score:3)
What are the health risks? Yet again, another article pearl clutching article about microplastics (I'm assuming this is what they are referring to) yet not one shred of evidence that shows what the harm is. While I am not personally suggesting that microplastics cause no harm, I just find it VERY odd that there is a ton of focus on finding them in our environment, yet ZERO focus on the harm they may or maynot cause.
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The items mentioned in the summary are not the microplastics. However, our ability to detect stuff is so exquisite that it is not clear that femtomolar concentrations of anything mean anything. Saying we found a toxic substance is irrelevant without knowing the concentration found, and the concentration at which it is known to be toxic. Because the press always tries to advance a narrative, CR included, it is too much work to try to figure out if such fears are valid, and therefore most such reports are b
Just putting this out there (Score:2)
Sourdough. It's not a lot of work with a little practice. Healthy, dirt cheap, and tastes way better than anything you can buy.
I eat mine every day and I'm pretty sure it's microplastic-free, or at least as free as it gets.
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Bread makes you fat unless you get a lot of exercise, as well as rapidly increasing blood glucose and also increasing other things that lead to cardiovascular disease.
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Bread makes you fat unless you get a lot of exercise, as well as rapidly increasing blood glucose and also increasing other things that lead to cardiovascular disease.
You are right in that what we call bread now is bad for you, but this is incorrect: the bread you make isn't the same as the bread you buy.
I would encourage you to do a little research into the sourdough process, and how it's basically a completely different food than say, Wonder bread.
I actually lost weight after I started baking my own, and part of that is that it's remarkably satisfying - you stay sated for a lot longer and snack less.
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I make my own sourdough...and then store it in a plastic ziploc bag.
Show the numbers! (Score:1)
A real election campaign issue (Score:2)