Source: Food packaging forum foundation – Geueke, B., Parkinson, LV, Groh, KJ et al. Evidence for widespread human exposure to food contact chemicals. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol (2024).
They are called FCCs for food contact chemicalsor, in French, chemical substances in contact with food. According to a study conducted by researchers from Food packaging forum and four universities, published Tuesday, September 17 in the Journal of exposure science environmental epidemiologyat least 3,601 chemicals found in our bodies come from our diet.
Chemicals that migrate from materials to food
Concretely, these chemicals are found in food packaging, but also in the machines used to process them, the kitchen utensils used to prepare them or even the dishes (bottles, pans, cans, tins, waffle irons, boxes used in fast food, etc.) The chemicals migrate to food, which is then ingested by humans. They are then found in urine, blood or even breast milk.
To achieve these results, the researchers compared more than 14,000 chemical substances known to be in contact with food with databases from human biomonitoring. They were able to identify and prove the presence of 25% of these substances in human biological samples.
Substances deemed very dangerous yet identified
Phthalates, Pfas (eternal pollutants), bisphenols, metals, volatile organic compounds in particular have been widely detected. 194 of these FCCs are included in human biomonitoring programs and 80 of them have very worrying dangerous properties because they are carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic. They are also endocrine disruptors, substances capable of accumulating (bioaccumulative) and/or persisting in the human body.
Jane Muncke, lead author, expresses her concern about this widespread exposure: “This work highlights the fact that food contact materials are not completely safe, even if they comply with regulations, because they transfer known hazardous chemicals to humans. We hope that this new database will be used to improve the safety of food contact materials, both in terms of regulation and the development of safer alternatives.”
Gaps in the effects of many substances identified
“Our research links food contact chemicals, exposure and human health. It also highlights chemicals that have been overlooked in biomonitoring studies to date. And it offers a real opportunity for prevention and health protection,” explains Birgit Geueke, first author of the study. The authors denounce significant gaps in biomonitoring and toxicity data.
Indeed, chemicals found in humans are little studied, such as synthetic antioxidants and oligomers. The authors advocate for better knowledge of their long-term effects on human health. For example, with antioxidants: “Knowledge about the metabolism, fate and effects of these substances is generally scarce,” notes Dr. Ksenia Groh from the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology.
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