Food packaging contains thousands of chemicals

Food packaging from five countries has complex, unique chemical fingerprints, and some items contain thousands of different chemicals, according to a new study ( Environ. Sci. Technol. 2024, DOI: 10.1021 /acs.est.3c08250 ). Lab-based screening showed that extracts from most of these real-world products activated or inhibited cell receptors that regulate the endocrine and metabolic systems. "Plastic products we're using every day contain many unknown chemicals," says Martin Wagner, a biologist who studies plastics at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Gløshaugen and coauthored the work. Wagner and his collaborators wanted to find out what those chemicals might be and whether they should be examined for health effects. The NTNU researchers gathered plastic packaging and asked colleagues in the US, the UK, South Korea, and Germany to do so as well. The study focused on 36 plastic items that came directly into contact with food and beverages, including