Literature review on Impact of plastic food containers on human health: Need for an alternative approach for packaging (Banana leaves for packaging)

Literature Review

Plastic is now become part of every field of human life. It penetrates the human body where it does not belong. Generally, people believe that packaging material are safe for them but all things that seems safe does not mean that it actually be. Many chemical families and groups such as phthalates, styrene, adipates and heavy metals are considered as very harmful substances for human health and environment. Vinyl chloride, a type of carcinogen, is part of the production of polyvinyl chloride. Irrespective of increasing consumers concerns, medical researches and scientific proof, all these harmful and dangerous substances are still used in food coating, bottles can and packaging which is intended to preserve food safe for humans. The reason for using plastic for packaging is that it is less expensive, resilient, lightweight and resistant to grease. Packaged food materials have a longer shelf life, and are easier and affordable to store. Hence, humans today are highly relayed on these plastics, for which humans’ entail high costs and results in health damages and the environmental degradation. Most of the type of plastic is harmful when it exposed to heat, burned, stretched, broken or come to the close contact of low temperature. However, plastics release dangerous organic chemical compounds, and with the passage of time, all plastics deteriorate and leads to harmful chemical emissions. With growing scientific proof and emergence of new techniques of safety from harmful substances present in plastic, consumers need to be cautious and should minimize their contact with plastics as much as necessary (Charles, 2012).

World plastics production amounted to around 359 million metric tons in 2018, with a yearly increase of around 5 percent, and this is the highest application area for crude oil. Hence, it emphasizes on the reason that why plastics industry depends on oil and how the increase in the price of natural gas and crude oil can have an economic impact on the plastics market. The use of alternative raw materials is becoming ever more valuable. Up to date, several different types of plastics such as polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene, polyamide and polyvinylchloride have highly recommended and used for packaging purpose either it be food packaging or liquid product packaging. The reason behind the use of these plastic types is due to their high accessibility at reasonable cost and good resilience power. But their use these day has to be limited because they are not completely and utterly reusable and environmentally friendly so they create serious environmental challenges. Also, plastic packaging materials are sometimes tainted with foodstuffs and biological stimulants, so reusing these items is infeasible and sometimes inconvenient economically. As a result, many thousand of tons of items made from plastic materials are improperly disposed and hence,  boosting the major issue of hazardous waste disposal each year (Kirwan, Plant & Strawbridge, 2011). Rapidly increasing environmental stewardship exerts both user-friendly and environmentally friendly characteristics on packaging films and on processing them. Biodegradability is therefore not only a reason for harm to human health but also a valuable attribute to the environment.

Packaging is considered as vital, when it comes to supporting human goods, guaranteeing high quality standards and preventing food waste. Most of the human population live in big cities, where there are very few opportunities for the food growth and production. Thus, 3.5 billion people in the big cities buy their products from their homes and these products are normally available in plastic packaging. Therefore, food packaging is an essential part in food production. In spite of well-managed and comfortable packaging offerings to consumers, it has been the subject of a lot of discussions on health, economic and environmental concerns. Various scientific and legislative groups interests has been drawn towards the prominence of migrating stimulants and other foodstuffs, mainly because of the fact that consumers awareness has increased (Arvanitoyannis & Bosnea, 2004; Fouad, El Sayed & Mahdy, 1999; Devlieghere, De Meulenaer, Demyttenaere & Huygherbaert, 1998; Nielsen, Margaretha Jägerstad & Öste, 1992). Packaging materials include a means for food preservation, protection, merchandising, marketing and distribution. At the same time they also play a key role in how such items can attain consumers without compromising healthy and safe ways, without sacrificing quality and performance. There is a constant connection between plastic packaging and the food that interferes consistently and leads to modifications that may take place within these items over time. Therefore, it is vital to considered multiple elements when selecting the right package for a specified food product (Raheem, 2013).

Prasad and Kochhar (2014) stated that the main goal and objective of food packaging, however, is to preserve the food from any kind of damaging, also to make sure that food life can be preserve for a longer period of time. The conventional components used in this sector are glass, steel, paper and paperboard, and plastic products (Tang, Kumar, Alavi, & Sandeep, 2012). Plastic has originated as the principal substances used in food packaging in the last decades because of its responsive properties, accessibility, friction, light weight and low prices (Accorsi, Cascini, Cholette, Manzini, & Mora, 2014). Plastics are substances made up of polymers and many other substances such as preservatives, stabilizers, pigments, production aids, etc., which modify in proportion and type from one polymer to the other, since each finished product has to be configured in terms of its production and long term use (Petersen et al., 1999). Most plastics are stiffened and less responsive, but most of the plastics used in plastic wrapping drain chemicals, either from the plastic of its own, encased with synthetic antioxidants, manufacturing stains (Lougheed, 2009), or various preservatives that bring it useful properties. There are few arguments that plastic packaging is safe and secure because only minute quantities of such additives move into food and liquid (Charles, 2012) but this may be based on incorrect reasoning.

Based on in-depth research and analysis of past documented information, undoubtedly, the first and most famous plastic substances in this time are known as xenoestrogens Colborn, Dumanoski & Myers, 1996). Several recent and independent studies have highlighted various serious health issues related to the xenoestrogens such as cancer and other diseases (Krimsky, 2001). The most common name for xenoestrogens are referred to as endocrine disruptors since these chemicals negatively impact the endocrine system of the human body, that also encompasses the pituitary, thymus, thyroid, adrenal and pancreas etc. The endocrine system is very crucial system in the human body that controls the body and its functions that are highly complex and complicated therefore, endocrine disruptors have that much bad and detrimental effects. Most specifically, cell division, growth and development are adversely affected, so newborn babies, children and teenagers are the highly susceptible. Endocrine disruptors have been associated with insulin sensitivity, thyroid disfunction and type II diabetes (Weinhold, 2009; Phillips, 2007; Renner, 2007), endometriosis, breast cancer, female polycystic ovarian disease, modified germ cells (Weinhold, 2009) and fetal development, behavioral and physiological health issues, and early childhood adolescence (Guenther et al., 2002). Endocrine disruptors build up in fatty tissue and even if some compounds can be secreted from plastics, their compounds also have more damaging effects, as it is with pthalates (Weinhold, 2009).

Furthermore, plastics are being used in canned food and drinks coatings, on cans, on bottles caps, jam jars, in thermal-seal materials on stainless steel foils including those contained in yogurts, cream and individual milk sections, and in aluminum sheet-foil coatings such as tetra packs, along with an element, such as different forms of papers in interaction with fluid, fat and dry foods like chef’s paper. In addition, plastics are often part of many household products such as inks, coatings, resins, dyes and chrome plating (Charles, 2012). Low temperature and heat also unstiffens and erodes plastics, speeding up the exodus of endocrine disruptors into food. High temperatures throughout the food processing packaging process allow BPA to be incorporated in the plastic lining of the cans. Liquids more easily soak up chemical compounds than dry canned foods. Food categories that have high concentration of fat and oil accumulate endocrine disruptors from plastics, as oils and fats are related to chemical-like particles (McGovern, 2009). Acidic foods like lemon, tomatoes, orange, grapes and vinegar will respond quickly with plastic as well. The time period of the food and liquid products to be placed in plastic packaging, bottles and cans and tetra packs often specify the quantity of chemicals assimilated (Charles, 2012)

In addition, the significant proportion of plastics used today generally come from non-renewable fossil fuels. Poorly managed plastic tends to end up in ecosystems, which creates massive pressure on the environment and human beings. Global plastic demand is exerting pressure on unbounded human resources and plastic pollution is a critical threat to the security of the environment and habitat. Plastic use as well as plastic pollution are therefore immediate sustainability concerns which need to be examined and resolved soon.

References

Accorsi, R., Cascini, A., Cholette, S., Manzini, R. and Mora, C., 2014. Economic and environmental assessment of reusable plastic containers: A food catering supply chain case study. International Journal of Production Economics, 152, pp.88-101.

Arvanitoyannis, I.S. and Bosnea, L., 2004. Migration of substances from food packaging materials to foods. Critical reviews in food science and nutrition, 44(2), pp.63-76.

Charles, A., 2012. Safe food packaging and storage for better health and environment Saravanan p 2, Sathish Kumar S, Visvanathan D 2, Silambarasan S 2. Int. J. Int Sci. Inn. Tech. Sec. A, 1(5), pp.1-4.

Colborn, T., Dumanoski, D. and Myers, J.P., 1996. Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence and Survival?–a Scientific Detective Story.

Devlieghere, F., De Meulenaer, B., Demyttenaere, J. and Huygherbaert, A., 1998. Evaluation of recycled HDPE milk bottles for food applications. Food Additives & Contaminants, 15(3), pp.336-345

Fouad, M.M.K., El Sayed, A.M. and Mahdy, A.N., 1999. Migration of DINP and DOP plasticisers from PVC sheets into food. Environmental Management and Health.

Guenther, K., Heinke, V., Thiele, B., Kleist, E., Prast, H. and Raecker, T., 2002. Endocrine disrupting nonylphenols are ubiquitous in food. Environmental science & technology, 36(8), pp.1676-1680.

Kirwan, M.J., Plant, S. and Strawbridge, J.W., 2011. Plastics in food packaging. Food and beverage packaging technology, pp.157-212.

Krimsky, S., 2001. Hormone Disruptors A Clue to Understanding the Environmental Cause of Disease. Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 43(5), pp.22-31.

Lougheed, T., 2009. Outside looking in: Understanding the role of science in regulation. Environ Health Perspect 117:A104-A110.

McGovern, V., 2009. Polycarbonate plastics and human BPA exposure: urinary levels rise with use of drinking bottles. Environ Health Perspect 117:A406–A406.

Nielsen, T.J., Margaretha Jägerstad, I. and Öste, R.E., 1992. Study of factors affecting the absorption of aroma compounds into low‐density polyethylene. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 60(3), pp.377-381.

Petersen, K., Nielsen, P.V.,     Bertelsen, G., Lawther, M., Olsen, M.B., Nilsson, N.H. and Mortensen, G., 1999. Potential of biobased materials for food packaging. Trends in food science & technology, 10(2), pp.52-68.

Phillips, M.L., 2007. Phthalates and metabolism: exposure correlates with obesity and diabetes in men, Environ Health Perspect 115:A312–A312.

Prasad, P. and Kochhar, A., 2014. Active packaging in food industry: a review. Journal of Environmental Science, Toxicology and Food Technology, 8(5), pp.1-7.

Raheem, D., 2013. Application of plastics and paper as food packaging materials-An overview. Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture, pp.177-188.

Renner, R., 2007. New Phthalate Link?: DEHP Metabolites and Altered Thyroid Hormone Levels in Men, Environ Health Perspect 115:A363–A363.

Souza, V.G.L. and Fernando, A.L., 2016. Nanoparticles in food packaging: Biodegradability and potential migration to food—A review. Food Packaging and Shelf Life, 8, pp.63-70.

Tang, X.Z., Kumar, P., Alavi, S. and Sandeep, K.P., 2012. Recent advances in biopolymers and biopolymer-based nanocomposites for food packaging materials. Critical reviews in food science and nutrition, 52(5), pp.426-442.

Weinhold, B., 2009. Gamete Gamble: Phthalate Alters Germ Cell Development, Environ Health Perspect 117:A33–A33.