There have been many sources covering the news in packaging and scientific industries. The latest health scare is that food packaging causes cancer. It’s not the first time that packaging products have been deemed a cause of the disease, even if they have in fact been completely safe to use. Sources however are now suggesting that the likes of sandwich packaging, hot food containers and plastic drinks bottles are a danger to consumer’s health.
The claims come after confirmation of some of the chemicals that exist within these items. Formaldehyde is a common chemical in plastic food packaging and a known trigger of cancer. So, should you be concerned? Is there a danger here?
In short the answer is no. Providing your customers aren’t eating their plastic cake containers and other takeaway containers they probably aren’t in any real danger.
But there’s scientific evidence right? All those articles you have read on the matter clearly said that there was evidence. It’s true that scientists did in fact conduct the studies and that they had some facts to back up their claims. They didn’t however claim that eating food from plastic food packaging would give you cancer. Their facts only proved that chemicals previously linked with cancer were able to ‘leak’ from the container into the food. This however happens in minute amounts over an exceptionally long period of time. In hindsight it is therefore very unlikely that the chemical would even be detected in your food unless it had been sat there for years; by which point it would not be worth eating anyway.
The chemicals found in plastics are also found naturally in the foods we eat, and in higher amounts. It seems strange that warnings are vocalised on food packaging but not on foods themselves that contain more of the chemical. It would take drinking more than 60 bottles of water to consume the same levels of formaldehyde that exists naturally in a single apple. The water would have also had to have sat in its bottle for at least a month before the chemicals began to ‘leak’ out into the fluid.
Many recognised sources have called the rumours alarmist. One lecturer from RMIT University in Australia said that we should be much more concerned about the levels of fat, salt and sugar that exist in today’s food. We should be less concerned about the possible migration of small amounts of chemicals from food packaging.
There is currently no conclusive evidence to suggest that food packaging has any real connection with cancer. There has been no evidence of test groups testing the theory and therefore no evidence to prove that what is being said is in fact correct.
The real concern amongst scientists is that it is unknown how lifelong exposure to these chemicals might affect us. The same however could be said of the chemicals in food that come from pesticides, treatments and additives used when growing and producing food.
If you are concerned about the chemicals you might be exposed to from plastic food packaging you can always opt for an eco-friendly alternative that would also benefit the planet.
