The migration of plasticisers from food packaging into food: A systematic review.
Creators: name: Tanzer, Madeline
name: Vilcins, Dwan
Publisher: name: Open Science Framework
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Other Chemicals and Drugs
subject: Hormones, Hormone Substitutes, and Hormone Antagonists
subject: Chemicals and Drugs
subject: Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition
subject: Medicine and Health Sciences
subject: Organic Chemicals
subject: Medical Specialties
subject: Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism
subject: beverages
subject: bisphenols
subject: food
subject: food packaging
subject: fruit
subject: grains
subject: meat
subject: migration
subject: phthalates
subject: plasticizer
subject: pulses
subject: soda
subject: vegetables

description: Plastics are products made primarily from polymers with added materials, namely plasticizers, to give properties of flexibility or malleability dependent on the performance requirements of the packaging. The global market for plastic products is substantial with a compound annual growth rate of 3.47% over the next five years between 2021-2026 (Mordor Intelligence, 2020). Of this, plastics used for food packaging account for over 40% of the market with over 1 million plastic bottles distributed worldwide every minute (Mordor Intelligence, 2020). Plasticizers, such as phthalates, bisphenol A (BPA), and perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), are compounds used in a broad range of both commercial and industrial uses (Tyagi &amp; Bhattacharya, 2019). Of the commercial uses, plasticizers are frequently added to food packaging products such as plastic wrap, storage containers and the lining of cans and bottles to meet the manufacturer or consumer's requirement. Plasticizers, however, have come under scrutiny for their ability to migrate, or move, from the originally manufactured product (food packaging) and into the surrounding environment (food). (Food Standards Australia and New Zealand, 2018). The recent scrutiny surrounding the migration of these plasticizers from food packing has been discussed in Lau and Wong (2000), which explains how plasticizers migrate into food products in three stages. In the first stage, diffusion, the movement of a substance from high concentration to low concentration, occurs within the food packaging where individual migrant molecules move within the polymer lattice. Secondly, the migrating plasticizer then moves by solvation, the movement of molecules through chemical associations, into the food placed within the packaging, before finally dispersing throughout the food, contaminating the consumable product. Recent evidence highlights the myriad of adverse effects that plasticizers exert, such as endocrine disruptions linked to development, reproductive, brain, chronic, and allergic diseases (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, 2021). These compounds disrupt the endocrine system, the hormone-producing and secretory system of the body, through competitively binding to a receptor, which inhibits the hormone’s ability to bind and illicit the relative response needed to maintain homeostasis, a state of equilibrium within the body. Disruptions of the endocrine system can then cause endocrine diseases which affect at least 5% of the population in developed countries (Golden, Robinson, Saldanha &amp; Anton, 2009). Given the very high level of plastic use globally, around 322 million tonnes of plastic per year and increasing (Yadav, 2018), and the evidence of the deleterious effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals on human health, it is important to understand the role of food packaging as a source of plasticizer exposure. Despite the evidence, no reviews have been conducted on this topic, highlighting the importance of this systematic review.