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Consumer Reports finds 'widespread' presence of plastics in food
- looofooo 3y agoWhat is the problem with these "plastics"?
- ChatGTP 3y agoPhthalates and bisphenols can disrupt the production and regulation of estrogen and other hormones, potentially boosting the risk of birth defects, cancer, diabetes, infertility, neurodevelopmental disorders, obesity and other health problems. From the article. I’d prefer it if my food didn’t contain these substances, wouldn’t you ?
- j4yav 3y agoAre there places where eating plastics is considered a normal food or food additive?
- KptMarchewa 3y agoMcDonalds
- BuckYeah 3y agoSubway
- bdhcuidbebe 3y agoi been chewing coca cola caps since the 80s
- dp-hackernews 3y agoPlastic pens Plastic straws Plastic Lilly sticks Plastic tie-wraps Basically anything that someone might chew on! Although, licorice roots are okay to chew on... I guess. :-)
- scoot 3y ago> Although, licorice roots are okay to chew on... I guess. Licorice can be toxic: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8962506/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8962506/
- AlexandrB 3y agoSo can water[1]. The dose makes the poison. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication
- dp-hackernews 3y agoAs can Oxygen.
- rudasn 3y agoPacifiers. If these things break down in unknown/unpublished ways we're all fcked.
- ceejayoz 3y agoIt took us a couple thousand years to realize we should stop fucking around with asbestos.
- Joker_vD 3y agoAlthough limestone is still considered safe and is used as e.g. filler in pills. So who knows, plastic too could be as safe or as unsafe as any rock.
- AlexandrB 3y ago> Although limestone is still considered safe and is used as e.g. filler in pills. AFAIK this makes sense. Asbestos is really dangerous only in the lungs, so you need to inhale a "friable" form of it somehow. Putting it in your stomach won't do anything.
- BizarroLand 3y agoI bet if you ate asbestos continually it would probably irritate the lining of your colon and increase the likelihood of IBS or Colon Cancer. Everything can and will kill you at some level. Death finds a way.
- Joker_vD 3y ago> I bet if you ate asbestos continually it would probably irritate the lining of your colon and increase the likelihood of IBS or Colon Cancer Well, that's never actually been proven so you can make a name for yourself by investigating this topic, if you feel so inclined.
- BizarroLand 3y agoSounds complicated, and even if I did start chewing on brake pads (my only available source of asbestos) then my findings would be limited to n=1 which can be ignored or relegated to anecdote.
- ledgerdev 3y agoI would strongly encourage you look into the research of Dr Shawna Swan. She's done several studies since the 1990's that have found and then later confirmed very alarming effects on testosterone and unborn children. And it's not just plastics causing this, it's pesticides and parabens too.
- throwawaaarrgh 3y ago[flagged]
- 93po 3y agoI guess lucky for me I already do HRT and have a vasectomy.
- looofooo 3y agoBut is it the same polymers they found in the food?
- ledgerdev 3y agoYes, they measured bisphenols and phthalates. I actually tracked down the original which has charts of how much was found, and is what should have been linked to in this post. https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-contaminants/the-plastic-chemicals-hiding-in-your-food-a7358224781/ https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-contaminants/the... Frankly it's frightening to consider the implications.
- looofooo 3y agoOK but levels are down from 2009, so we are in the right track.
- Eisenstein 3y agoOne thing you will find about articles and comments regarding this issue is that there is always a 'we don't know' aspect if you look past the fear inducing 'it could be doing this horrible thing' stances. I try to stay up to date with scholarly research regarding microplastic dangers to humans, and so far there is no conclusive evidence that they do anything harmful to us. Just know that you are exposed to many hundreds of actually harmful chemicals in your daily life -- but remember that it is the dose, not the presence of a toxin that causes harm. Even water will kill you if you drink too much of it. Until there is a smoking gun regarding these particles and human health, it would do good to focus on things you can control that are known to be harmful, rather than something you can't that is only scary sounding. That said, it is a good opportunity to use this to advocate for far less single-use plastics in society. We should not be using nearly as much plastic for nearly as many things as we do, and it needs to be drastically reduced.
- bthallplz 3y ago> it would do good to focus on things you can control that are known to be harmful Are you (or someone else) aware of any indices of how harmful various substances are and how pervasive they are? It'd be nice to know, for instance, how damaging one substance is versus another so that I can prioritize my concerns better. - I imagine that the quantity that someone consumes or is exposed to plays a role. It'd be interesting to see an index of how easily the toxic threshold can generally be hit via conventional sources.
- Eisenstein 3y ago> It'd be nice to know, for instance, how damaging one substance is versus another so that I can prioritize my concerns better. A list of harmful chemicals people could be exposed to in daily life shouldn't be difficult to compile if there isn't one already, but is relatively useless because as I noted exposure itself is not the problem in almost all cases. However taking that list and trying to compare the harm on some sort quantitative level is going to be difficult. I wouldn't worry about it -- I was speaking more about 'stay mindful of things around you that you can control, like wearing PPE when necessary or staying away from off-gassing plastics which have a characteristic smell' rather than 'make a list of everything you are exposed to and plan your life around it'.
- giantg2 3y agoSounds like they all have them. Guess we're screwed. It says there's ways to reduce the levels in food, but doesn't say what those methods would be.
- bcx 3y agoI wonder how much of these plastics are environmental in general, for example if these plastics are in organic unpackaged fruit — it’s very likely environmental (e.g. microplastics in the water) as opposed to something in the processing for sale. We should have some data on environmental plastics since the 1960s/70s. Would be interesting to see a graph.
- macNchz 3y agoTo my understanding it’s very hard to avoid phthalates in food, and studies have found them in fresh produce. That said, since the source of these contaminants is often the final packaging itself, or surfaces of equipment used in processing facilities, the concentrations tend to be increased in highly processed or packaged foods. The original source article covers some of the sources, and has data tables for the things they tested. https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-contaminants/the-plastic-chemicals-hiding-in-your-food-a7358224781/ https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-contaminants/the...
- javier_e06 3y agoNotwithstanding the literature that says Phthalates are also breathed and absorbed through skin, that ship has sailed for this and the few generations ahead of us.
- alistairSH 3y ago"That ship has sailed" is a bit of a cop out, no? Just because something already happened doesn't mean we shouldn't/can't change our ways going forward. The current levels of plastics might not be obviously harmful, but that doesn't mean we won't discover harm in the future. Or that we should just say "fuck it" and resign ourselves to eating plastics forever.
- micromacrofoot 3y agomuch of the time we don't even fix the problems that knowingly cause great harm, so I can understand the feeling of resignation
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- forward1 3y agoThis is really important. Everyone squirting hand sanitizer at store checkouts and then handling BPA-paper receipts is a particularly good example. > commonly used hand sanitizers, as well as other skin care products, contain mixtures of dermal penetration enhancing chemicals that can increase by up to 100 fold the dermal absorption of lipophilic compounds such as BPA. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0110509 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...
- jdietrich 3y ago>Consumer Reports said none of the phthalate levels it found exceeded limits set by U.S. and European regulators. I'm totally fine with this. Maybe the FDA is toothless, I don't know, but EFSA do not kid around.
- boringuser2 3y agoThe FDA isn't "toothless"...
- ceejayoz 3y agoOne of the key differences here is the FDA permits food additives and adulterants to be self-affirmed as "Generally Recognized As Safe", which largely means "well, no one says it isn't, yet". https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-10-246 https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-10-246 > Because GRAS notification is voluntary and companies are not required to identify nanomaterials in their GRAS substances, FDA has no way of knowing the full extent to which engineered nanomaterials have entered the U.S. food supply as part of GRAS substances. In contrast to FDA's approach, all food ingredients that incorporate engineered nanomaterials must be submitted to regulators in Canada and the European Union before they can be marketed.
- chiefalchemist 3y agoRight. Effectively, it's innocent until found to be guilty. In the context of public health and environmental wellbeing, that's a way-more-risk-than-is-necessary way to approach their responsibilities. Great for profits. Nots so good for everyone and everything else.
- chiefalchemist 3y agoToothless? How about clueless then? Or better, favors Big Inc profits over public health. Call it what you want, but the FDA is too often a paper tiger.
- boringuser2 3y ago
- bestouff 3y agoNote that they seem to only appear in processed food. That's kind of OK of you cook yourself apparently.
- post_break 3y agoUnless you eat anything pork. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPbF45-ZB5M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPbF45-ZB5M
- Maximus9000 3y agoCows too are fed candy (with wrapper) https://www.motherjones.com/food/2013/12/cow-feed-chicken-poop-candy-sawdust/ https://www.motherjones.com/food/2013/12/cow-feed-chicken-po...
- drtgh 3y agoThat video of pigs being fed plastic it is in a facility in North Carolina, USA, run by Smithfield Foods, a Chinese-owned entity, the largest pork producer in the United States. I have searched for to know what happened with that facility, but the only article that I've been able to find, and that it is showed as first result in the search engine, is from fayobserver[1], labeled as USA Today Network, saying a "do not worry". Legal or not, it's an outrage. Did the FDA allowed this in the end? From their web[2] << Headquartered in Smithfield, Virginia, Smithfield Foods is an American food company dedicated to producing Good food. Responsibly.® >> [1] https://fayobserver.com/story/news/2022/05/05/nc-pig-feed-plastics-claim-went-tiktok-viral-does-public-have-worry/6984395001/ https://fayobserver.com/story/news/2022/05/05/nc-pig-feed-pl... [2] www smithfieldfoods com
- ceejayoz 3y agohttps://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230103-how-plastic-is-getting-into-our-food https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230103-how-plastic-is-g... > Plastic particles can also contaminate food crops directly. A 2020 study found microplastics and nanoplastics in fruit and vegetables sold by supermarkets and in produce sold by local sellers in Catania in Sicily, Italy. Apples were the most contaminated fruit, and carrots had the highest levels of microplastics among the sampled vegetables. > According to research by Willie Peijnenburg, professor of environmental toxicology and biodiversity at Leiden University in the Netherlands, crops absorb nanoplastic particles – minuscule fragments measuring between 1-100nm in size, or about 1,000 to 100 times smaller than a human blood cell – from surrounding water and soil through tiny cracks in their roots.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- AChamarthy 3y agoCrimes of the future!
- achrono 3y agoIt's time to come up with what I'd call a Plastic Chain Index. For any given edible item, a very low plastic chain index implies that it would only have plastic inadvertently absorbed from the environment, whereas a high one would be e.g. those super hot French fries rolling in plastic. If you're optimistic, this will usher in easy measurement, widespread awareness and consumer enlightenment. But realistically, we will spend decades over confusion as to whether a high PCI really makes for poorer health or not, where are the double-blind trials, decade long cohort studies and meta-analyses etc. until enough human sacrifices have been conducted to appease the plausible deniability of these companies.
- galdosdi 3y agoIndeed. Until then we hapless individuals trapped in the present will have to resort to heuristics. The best one I can think of to start with is avoid processing. The more processed a food is the more opportunities it had to potentially be contaminated. Contamination can happen with raw ingredients too, but at least that's fewer opportunities strictly speaking. So, for example, in order from most dangerous to least: French fries from a restaurant French fries pre sliced in a bag but you bake them Raw whole potatos you yourself slice up and fry in oil you purchased Raw whole potatos of random origin, baked Raw whole potatos of known origin, baked It's very similar idea to eating lower on the food chain to avoid bioaccumulated toxins. Just a heuristic but can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Happens to coincidentally also be a good way to eat healthy in general even ignoring contamination. PS: if anyone has any other ideas for heuristics I want to know them!
- mtsr 3y agoIf only. The amount of plastic absorbed by pretty much everything we eat could easily be the most significant part. With possible exceptions for especially badly treated products such as GP's plastic-rolled fries.
- cameldrv 3y agoThere is tons of plastic in a food factory. For example, lots of liquids flow through plastic tubing which is proven to leach phthalates. This is not going to happen with a whole potato you cook yourself using metal cookware and utensils.
- dghughes 3y agoWhen it's foods contaminating plastic then we'll really know it's bad.
- impalallama 3y agoDirect link to article. https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-contaminants/the-plastic-chemicals-hiding-in-your-food-a7358224781/ https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-contaminants/the... > We found [phthalates] in all but one food (Polar raspberry lime seltzer). A very grim lol.
- mrinterweb 3y agoDon't knock it. That's a good flavor
- SamuelAdams 3y agoLet’s say we eventually get accurate measures of what is a healthy amount of plastics versus harmful amount. Let’s pretend the law is updated so that food manufacturers must limit the number of microplastics to a healthy level. Does that capability even exist? How can food manufacturers actually control microplastics in their products? The report said even canned products have microplastic, so I think it’s more than just the final packaging.
- abeppu 3y agoI think the issue with canned products is still mostly about the packaging; cans generally have a plastic lining/coating that is meant to prevent their contents from reacting with the metal. Unfortunately, this is also true of metal lids on glass jars. This is even true of the lids used for home canning! I think the capability exists (we had cans and jars before we had these chemicals), but both industry norms and likely consumer expectations must shift. E.g. suppose you had new processes which could cool food in a sterile environment before filling cans -- then could cans do with an organic wax liner? https://ekko.world/plastic-lining-on-beverage-food-cans/226751 https://ekko.world/plastic-lining-on-beverage-food-cans/2267... https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/aussie-study-finds-phthalates-jar-lids https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/aussie-study-finds-ph...
- Apocryphon 3y agoCould be worse. Could've been Panera Bread's Charged Lemonade.
- throw10920 3y agoHooray for Consumer Reports! They're one of the few truly independent (e.g. no paid sponsorships like you see on YouTube channels) product testing and review companies. I have a subscription to them and it's served me well, and I hope they stick around for a while.
- bsenftner 3y agoWho else is there? Today's consumer protections for anything Internet related feels nonexistent. Who else is like Consumer Reports?
- throw10920 3y agoConsumer Labs, at least, which does more low-level lab testing than CR. Don't know of any others.
- conroy 3y agoGearLab uses the same model as Consumer Reports. No sponsored content, they buy all the products themselves, etc. https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/about https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/about
- rsanek 3y agoLooks like they do use affiliate links though, which means they have an incentive to recommend items sold on sites that will give them higher affiliate commissions.
- Apocryphon 3y agoGuess Wirecutter is in the same boat, then.
- teachrdan 3y agoFYI Consumer Reports also uses affiliate links now. I'm of two minds about it. OTOH it creates an incentive to recommend more items and more expensive items. OTOH I like that they capture some revenue that can go to furthering their mission.
- bilsbie 3y agoHow much should we worry about the disposable cups they put coffee in? My understanding is we’re putting a hot liquid in a cup lined with plastic.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- moose44 3y agoSame goes for Keurig pods.
- taeric 3y agoAll canned drinks are lined with plastics. I think all canned things, period, at this point.
- tessierashpool 3y agonope, phthalate-free cans have been a selling point for a while now. standard for canned beans at Sprouts or Whole Foods
- taeric 3y agoOk, I'll amend by changing to "majority". :D I'm curious what the implication in not having a lining is. If it isn't needed, why have it on the other cans? I'm assuming it has a decreased shelf life? Edit: I'm a little confused on the reading real quick. I am seeing that most cans are now BPA free, but it seems they are still lined with a plastic?
- forward1 3y ago"BPA free" = we changed ~one chemical to avoid the disclosure requirement != it's totally safe.
- skywhopper 3y agoThe metal in cans would react with certain foods or chemicals in food in often far worse ways than anything the plastic will do. There's likely no packaging material that wouldn't make any impact on its contents.
- bilsbie 3y agoI just got rid of all of my plastic cutting boards
- moose44 3y agoEasy way to limit your exposure: Local, organic and unprocessed whole foods. Stop eating garbage—you'll feel better and won't have to worry about stuff like this.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- forward1 3y agoThat's very idyllic, but the unfortunate reality is preparing whole foods takes time which many people simply don't have. Eating processed, packaged foods is a compromise they have to make to tend to family, work or other matters. Not dissimilar from putting purchases you can't afford on a credit card, and paying the price for it down the road.
- moose44 3y agoWhile I understand your point. You've alluded to a greater issue—time management. Everyone has time. You make time for what is important. We all find time to watch TV, sit on our phones and go out. I do not believe a person is booked every single hour and minute of the day. It's a convenient excuse to justify making poor decisions.
- broscillator 3y agoThat's more of a cultural phenomena than 'reality'. I don't meant to say it's not happening, but if one frames it as 'reality' you make it sound inevitable, whereas it's a consequence of a cultural framework and mentality. For example, I don't personally know anyone who uses a credit card for things they can't afford, and that seems like a very US thing to do.
- dvngnt_ 3y agothere's always time a pressure cooker cuts time considerably. a slow cooker allows you to multitask
- TriangleEdge 3y agoI'm not a chemist. Why doesn't plastic get broken down? Will there be a future where my doctor will prescribe me an enzyme or something that will breakdown the plastics in my body so they can be filtered out, or turned into energy?
- Tyr42 3y agoWood's cellulose was not broken down for millennia, and then live evolved ways to eat it (like mushrooms). But before then, there were piles and piles of dead trees. I suspect plastics will be similar. Nothing has evolved to eat them, so nothing does.
- AlexandrB 3y agoIt's happening[1], albeit slowly. Plastic is such an energy-dense substance that it seems inevitable something will eat it eventually. Might not be pretty though - imagine the kind of bacterial blooms that could happen in plastic-polluted waterways. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/dec/14/bugs-across-globe-are-evolving-to-eat-plastic-study-finds https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/dec/14/bugs-acr...
- stevenwoo 3y agoMaking plastic requires a specific step of heating to very high, specific temperatures and pressures and separating components of petrochemicals or similar biomass that cannot be easily reversed by aging or biological processes. A metaphor for this might be thinking about cracking an egg and scrambling it in a frying pan, then attempting to reverse this and put the egg back together only using mechanical steps and cooling - it's impossible by any practical means.
- goodgoblin 3y agoI firmly believe the only way to stop our culture from obsessing over the wrong things (politics, climate emergency, vaccines) is to give it something even worse to focus on - enter the War on Plastic! I genuinely hope this catches on and people start putting anti-plastic flags on their lawns.
- ginkgotree 3y agoShocker.
- thelastgallon 3y agoI wonder about all the take out containers. Is paper/cardboard is safe? Like the ones Chipotle uses? Or are they coated with some plastic/toxin that we are not aware of? And the bowls for soup, they seem to be coated with something.
- blockwriter 3y agoMaybe we should mandate that plastics are manufactured with an off taste, similar to the way gas has a sulfur smell added to it.
- cvalka 3y agoThe same outlet that ranked BMW higher than Volvo in terms of RELIABILITY.
- fnord77 3y agovolvo reliability is atrocious bmw's seem to have been improving
- fnord77 3y ago"Annie's Organic Cheesy Ravioli contained the most phthalates in nanograms per serving," lol
- 1letterunixname 3y agoThere needs to be a re-examination of packaging most foods in plastic and single-use microwavable containers made from plastic.
- feedsmgmt 3y agoYour fruits and vegetables might be covered with a petroleum derived "wax" by default: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_waxing https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_waxing
- wood_is_organic 3y agoIf you have a plastic cutting board, throw it away. If you go to a restaurant that uses plastic or Delrin cutting boards, educate them, then run away. Why it's not obvious that slicing and dicing against plastic generates microplastics baffles me. https://youtube.com/shorts/mQRPvst0BvM https://youtube.com/shorts/mQRPvst0BvM https://youtube.com/shorts/mQRPvst0BvM https://youtube.com/shorts/mQRPvst0BvM https://youtu.be/_bNySyEobfY https://youtu.be/_bNySyEobfY
- ijhuygft776 3y agodont you just poop out those microplastics anyways?
- ijhuygft776 3y agoThe food industry doesn't care about long term... they are about profits now.