{"id":110783,"date":"2022-06-13T07:10:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-13T05:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=110783"},"modified":"2022-06-09T12:34:59","modified_gmt":"2022-06-09T10:34:59","slug":"from-the-packet-into-your-food-what-harmful-substances-are-in-food-packaging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/from-the-packet-into-your-food-what-harmful-substances-are-in-food-packaging\/","title":{"rendered":"From the packet into your food: what harmful substances are in food packaging?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"The
The Basel researchers are focusing on food packaging made from plastics (image: iStock).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Salad boxes to go, sealed-tray lasagna and apple juice in PET bottles: we encounter packaged food and drink everywhere. A new database shows which packaging contains harmful substances that can be transferred to its contents. It also includes findings from researchers at the University of Basel, who are investigating plastic molecules that were previously unknown or barely known.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 3,000 detected chemicals are listed in the Food Packaging Forum’s database. An international team of experts oversaw the execution of this multi-year project and contributed to the creation of a database of previously undocumented chemicals that can enter food through packaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These include what are known as oligomers, molecules made up of several building blocks (monomers) used in the production of plastics and which are formed as by-products in the process. The listing of oligomers in the database was supported by Dr. Verena Schreier and Professor Alex Odermatt from the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Basel. The two molecular and systems toxicologists study plastics and the harmful substances they contain that unintentionally end up in food and drink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The major problem with these substances: \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to look for them because they aren\u2019t deliberately added \u2013 they are unexpected by-products,\u201d says Odermatt. As a result, he says, it\u2019s also not clear in what concentration they are present in plastics and whether they can be released. Accordingly, the plastics are not tested for these substances and the safety of the substances themselves has not yet been assessed. But the database is set to change this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oligomers in food and drink packaging<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A well-known example is polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is often used as a packaging material. \u201cThere are about 50 oligomers in PET that have been detected in products so far,\u201d says Odermatt. With his research in the ToxOligo project, which is supported by the federal government, Odermatt and his team want to increase awareness of these particular substances and their effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of these oligomers are found in packaging and thus come into contact with food and drink, which is how they end up in the human body. \u201cMany of these substances have already been detected in humans,\u201d says Odermatt. Although the EU\u2019s REACH regulation (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) serves as a political basis for dealing with chemical substances, it only takes effect when the substances and corresponding testing systems are known. \u201cAfter that, it\u2019s up to the industry to ensure that only harmless substances end up in food packaging,\u201d says Odermatt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The toxicologist is not surprised by the findings so far: \u201cIt\u2019s always the case that new products are launched before their safety is confirmed.\u201d This is precisely why it\u2019s so important to identify these by-products and breakdown products, so that they can be better dealt with, he says.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In the case of plastic oligomers, it has often also been technically impossible to detect them. For this reason, Odermatt\u2019s team is working closely with the Computational Pharmacy group at the department to run computer simulations before they start in vitro tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clarifying the effect on health<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith our project, we are still at the very beginning of discovering how oligomer substances act,\u201d says Odermatt<\/strong>. Until now, it has been assumed that these behaved in the same way as monomers. \u201cThe assumption was that because they are larger molecules, it\u2019s harder for them to enter the human body, or they are rapidly broken down into their monomers in the body \u2013 but this hasn\u2019t been proven yet.\u201d<\/p>

In the medium term, the goal is clear: \u201cPlastics containing substances that are harmful to health may no longer be used,\u201d says Odermatt<\/strong>, since they could accumulate in the body or reinforce each other. The researchers also receive support for their work from the manufacturers of these substances: \u201cThe industry is aiming for recyclable or biodegradable products.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the new FCCmigex database<\/a> is continuing to gather information on chemical substances that come into contact with food and drink. So far, 1,976 different chemicals have been detected in plastics, as the researchers\u2019 article, published in the journal Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, <\/em>notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Original publication<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Birgit Geueke et al.; Systematic Evidence on migrating and extractable Food Contact Chemicals: Most Chemicals detected in Food Contact Materials are not listed for Use<\/a>; Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition (2022)<\/em>, doi: 10.1080\/10408398.2022.2067828<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Salad boxes to go, sealed-tray lasagna and apple juice in PET bottles: we encounter packaged food and drink everywhere. A new database shows which packaging contains harmful substances that can be transferred to its contents. It also includes findings from researchers at the University of Basel, who are investigating plastic molecules that were previously unknown […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"The Basel researchers are focusing on food packaging made from plastics","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[10416,7105,14007,11966],"supplier":[2845],"class_list":["post-110783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-circulareconomy","tag-packaging","tag-pet","tag-plastics","supplier-universitaet-basel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110783\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110783"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=110783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}