Is plastic in our food?

There is a growing trend for plastic in food.

Chickens ready to roast, inside a plastic bag; tea bags made with 20% plastic; toasties made within plastic sleeves.

Is this safe?

I presume you don't eat the bags afterwards... :-)

Why wouldn't it be safe? Plastic bottles for food and drink have been around for decades without any real problems.

I presume you don't eat the bags afterwards... :-)

 

Why wouldn't it be safe? Plastic bottles for food and drink have been around for decades without any real problems.

I have read about certain plastics in baby bottles being banned, and issues with certain plastics being used for bottled water.

That's due to leaching from the bottles of Bisphenol-A. There appears to be no proof at all that it's harmful in the concentrations that are encountered as it's poorly solube in water. However there has been a rather hysterical response from the usual suspects demanding that It Must Be Banned because, well, funny tummy feelings. So it's not used in certain food grade containers.

If it was an issue in the way they think - then every office since about 1960 that has a plastic bottle watercooler would have seen it's big butch arvertising and sales staff rendered into limp wristed people with the advertising drive of a dead badger, to paraphrase one of the people that was discussing this...

El Cid,

As Obelix suggests, the wrapping of food in plastic shouldn't translate into plastic contamination of the food.

A much more urgent problem is the disposal of plastic waste so that it doesn't enter into the food chain.

You may find the following link of some interest to you.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/feb/14/sea-to-plate-plastic-got-into-fish

If it was an issue in the way they think - then every office since about 1960 that has a plastic bottle watercooler would have seen it's big butch arvertising and sales staff rendered into limp wristed people with the advertising drive of a dead badger, to paraphrase one of the people that was discussing this...

I believe there is such a thing as aluminum poisoning, yet we have many things made from aluminum used in cooking, I would just like to discuss the issue, as the effects may be found out 50 years later.

I believe there is such a thing as aluminum poisoning, yet we have many things made from aluminum used in cooking, I would just like to discuss the issue, as the effects may be found out 50 years later.

I think that the Aluminium poisoning from cooking pots is very rare and down to cooking acidic food such a fruits. It can cause harm if its in the form of sulphate:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelford_water_pollution_incident

We still use lead crystal which can also leech lead into the drinks contained in it but its so minute and lead crystal its still being used. Both of the above have been studied and I think probably on par with plastics.

I presume you don't eat the bags afterwards... :-)

 

Why wouldn't it be safe? Plastic bottles for food and drink have been around for decades without any real problems.

It's early doors yet.