Toxicology scientist Jane Muncke joins Nate to discuss the effects of ultra processed foods and their packaging on our health. Topics include plastic pollution, the history and impact of food packaging, risks of migration in plastic food packaging, endocrine disrupting chemicals and obesity, coalitions and partnerships in food packaging, interdisciplinary collaboration in eco-toxicology, efforts to cast doubt on the impact of plastics, and the importance of relationships and safe food packaging.
Plastic packaging poses major environmental concerns due to its persistence in the environment and the potential migration of chemicals into food.
The use of plastic packaging in centralized food processing facilities raises concerns about the reliance on heavily processed foods and the challenge of transitioning away from plastic without compromising food security.
Regularly drinking hot beverages from polystyrene cups may have potential long-term health impacts due to the presence of endocrine disrupting chemicals.
Deep dives
Plastics as an Excuse for Continued Fossil Carbon Dependency
Plastics are often seen as a backup plan for the fossil carbon industry, allowing them to continue extracting and using fossil fuels. This creates a modern, technologically-intensive version of using all parts of a buffalo, but with the heavy fractions of fossil carbon being wasted. While the environmental dangers of plastics are becoming more well-known, the investment in plastic production is driven by the desire to maintain the use of fossil fuels. This investment poses challenges for big food brands as they try to reduce plastic waste and transition to more sustainable alternatives.
The Concerns with Plastic Packaging and Migration
Plastic packaging poses major environmental concerns due to its persistence in the environment. Plastics do not biodegrade and can accumulate in the oceans and ecosystems, impacting wildlife. Additionally, plastics used in food packaging can migrate chemicals into the food they come into contact with. The complex chemical composition of plastics, often including impurities, raises concerns about the potential health impacts of these chemicals on humans, such as endocrine disruption, reduced sperm count, and neurotoxic effects. Migration of chemicals from plastic packaging to food remains a significant concern.
The Role of Food Packaging and Challenges for Change
Food packaging plays a critical role in enabling globalized food systems, allowing for widespread distribution and preservation of food. However, the reliance on heavily processed foods and convenience packaging raises concerns. The use of plastic packaging has become an integral part of centralized food processing facilities, where efficiency and cost-effectiveness are prioritized. The challenge lies in transitioning away from plastic packaging without compromising food security and economic efficiency. Shifting towards local, seasonal, and less processed foods is one potential solution, but it also requires addressing economic inequalities and time constraints that influence consumer choices.
Health impacts of regular consumption of hot beverages from polystyrene cups
Regularly drinking hot beverages from polystyrene cups may have potential long-term health impacts due to the presence of endocrine disrupting chemicals in polystyrene. These chemicals can disrupt the hormone system, leading to a range of effects such as diabetes, cancers, infertility, reproductive issues, neurological effects, allergies, and cardiovascular disease.
Plastic packaging, marketing, and the role of food companies
Food packaging poses risks such as migration of chemicals into food, particularly with long-term storage and contact with hot, acidic, or fatty food. The presence of plastic packaging enables an over-consumptive lifestyle and the marketing of ultra-processed, heavily plastic-packaged foods exacerbates the problem further. Food companies play a significant role, profiting from these products while putting the health risks on consumers. It is crucial to promote conscious consumerism, choose seasonal and locally grown foods, cook from scratch, and be aware of the marketing tactics surrounding food products.
On this episode, toxicology scientist Dr. Jane Muncke joins Nate to discuss the current state of food production and the effects of ultra processed foods and their packaging on our health. Over the last century processed food has taken over our supermarkets and our diets, and at the same time the containers they’re sold in have evolved as well - to be more eye-catching and keep food ‘good’ for longer. But what have we sacrificed in exchange for efficiency, ease, and convenience? How do the chemicals used in packaging and processing transfer into the food we eat and subsequently end up in our bodies? Will switching away from these toxic food practices require more local food supply chains - and correspondingly simpler diets and lifestyles?
About Jane Muncke
Jane Muncke holds a doctorate degree in environmental toxicology and a MSc in environmental science from the ETH Zurich. Since 2012 she has been working as Managing Director and Chief Scientific Officer at the charitable Food Packaging Forum Foundation (FPF) in Zurich, Switzerland. FPF is a research and science communication organization focusing on chemicals in all types of food contact materials. She is a full scientific member of the Society of Toxicology (SOT), the Society for Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology (SETAC), the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the Endocrine Society. Since 2019, she has been an elected expert member of the Swiss Organic Farming Association Bio Suisse’s committee on trade and processing where she contributes to further developing the standards for processing and packaging of organic food. She is a director of the FAN initiative, a collective of experts warning about resource overshoot, the polycrisis, and related societal collapse.
