News Article

Scientists evaluate inhaled microplastics

Report microplastics occur in lower airways of European citizens with the majority being fibers; evaluate microplastics indoor and outdoor exposure sources; work out established particle domains and paradigms can help predict toxicity of inhaled microplastic particles

News Article

Reusable food packaging and novel coronavirus

UPSTREAM encourages consumers to continue using reusable items with regular washing using soap, expects zero-waste efforts and bring-your-own container programs to further gain momentum after pandemic ends; expanded business models needed to promote sanitizing and reusing packaging

News Article

2023 FPF Workshop: Goals and policy processes for safe and sustainable FCMs

On the morning of the Food Packaging Forum’s 11th annual workshop, speakers share processes to measure sustainable food packaging while accounting for multiple concerns; three speakers share findings from developing frameworks to make packaging safer, account for tradeoffs, and reduce plastic packaging use; three speakers share how policy is developed at the United Nations and European Union

Publication Peer-reviewed papers

A vision for safer food contact materials: Public health concerns as drivers for improved testing

Muncke, J., Andersson, A.M., Backhaus, T., Belcher, S.M., Boucher, J.M., Almroth, B.C., Collins, T.J., Geueke, B., Groh, K.J., Heindel, J.J., von Hippel, F.A., Legler, J., Maffini, M.V., Martin, O.V., Myers, J.P., Nadal, A., Nerin, C., Soto, A.M., Trasande, L., Vandenberg, L.N., Wagner, M., Zimmermann, L., Zoeller, R.T., Scheringer, M.
2023, Environment Journal
News Article

Scientists explore international bisphenol levels in packaging, food, and urine

Four studies investigate bisphenol (BP) migration from packaging, occurrence in foodstuff, and human urine; report BPA migration from Nigerian epoxy-coated cans into malt drinks; detect four bisphenols in packaged water and honey samples; find BPS in Canadian meat products from 2008 to 2020 suggesting BPS is not a recent phenomenon; measure higher bisphenol alternative levels in Belgian population in 2018 than 2015

News Article

Reports highlight reuse benefits and plastics recycling shortcomings

International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) report details current recycling schemes; concludes waste management techniques not “capable of alleviating” the growing plastic pollution crisis; recommends government actions to reduce plastic production; Break Free From Plastic follows up on 215 packaging commitments from top plastic pollution producing companies: 18 projects with no information after press release, few projects lessen plastic production; Upstream compares single-use and reusable service ware for environmental impact and business cost, finds “reuse wins”

News Article

Phthalates found in diverse array of foods, from coffee to baby formula

Systematic review summarizes phthalate occurrence in different foods, discusses sources, and potential risk; researchers assess how coffee packaging and brewing method affects bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) and di-butyl phthalate (DBP) levels in coffee; perform targeted analysis of 245 plastic additives in baby foods; report widespread contamination including a median of 46.1 ng phthalate esters per gram baby food