Researchers have made a startling discovery: a recent study has detected over 3,600 chemicals used in food packaging and processing, known as food contact chemicals, in human bodies. While substances like PFAS and bisphenol A, which are already recognized as harmful, were expected findings, the researchers also caution that many other chemicals detected in the study could also be hazardous to health.
The study published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology sheds light on the widespread human exposure to food contact chemicals that could be detected in human samples, such as urine, blood, and breast milk.
For the study, the researchers compared over 14,000 known food contact chemicals (FCCs) with data from five human biomonitoring programs, three metabolome/exposome databases, and various scientific studies. The results revealed that 3,601 of these chemicals, making up 25% of the known FCCs, are present in human bodies.
“Our research establishes a link between food contact chemicals, exposure, and human health. It also highlights those chemicals that have been overlooked in biomonitoring studies so far. And it offers an important opportunity for prevention and protection of health,” said Dr. Birgit Geueke, first author of the study in a news release.
“This work highlights the fact that food contact materials are not fully safe, even though they may comply with regulations, because they transfer known hazardous chemicals into people. We would like this new evidence base to be used for improving the safety of food contact materials – both in terms of regulations but also in the development of safer alternatives,” said Dr. Jane Muncke, senior author of the study.
The researchers pointed out that the potential hazards of many of these chemicals have not been thoroughly investigated and this gap in research raises concerns about the unknown risks associated with these substances.
“We already knew that problematic chemicals in food packaging are not limited to well-known substances such as bisphenol and phthalates, but we were surprised by the high number of food contact chemicals for which some evidence of human exposure exists. This shows that there needs to be more research about the toxicity and exposure to many chemicals and regulation around their use in food packaging,” said co-author Olwenn Martin.