Video abstract summarizing key points of the study.
On September 17, 2024, a peer-reviewed scientific article describing widespread human exposure to food contact chemicals (FCCs) was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology. This research reveals which chemicals used in food packaging and other food contact articles have been found in human samples, such as urine, blood, and breast milk, and it also highlights significant gaps in biomonitoring and toxicity data. The data are made available in an interactive tool. This FCChumon database was compiled by a team of researchers from the Food Packaging Forum, together with colleagues from four academic institutions.
In a systematic approach, the authors compared over 14,000 known FCCs with data from five human biomonitoring programs, three metabolome/exposome databases, and the scientific literature, revealing evidence of 3,601 FCCs present in humans, representing 25% of the known FCCs.
Certain groups of chemicals have been widely detected in human samples and in FCMs, such as bisphenols, PFAS, phthalates, metals, and volatile organic compounds. Many of these chemicals have hazard properties of concern and have been linked to harming human health.
However, for other chemicals that transfer from the packaging into the food, such as synthetic antioxidants and oligomers, little is known about their presence and fate in humans. In addition, potential hazards of many of these chemicals have not yet been sufficiently investigated.
While there are other exposure sources for FCCs than FCMs, these data will improve the understanding of how FCMs contribute to human exposure. It is also most likely that the actual number of FCCs in humans is even higher because only a subset of FCCs was investigated in detail.
These results aim to help researchers focus on important gaps in our knowledge about how humans are exposed to chemicals and to better understand the health effects of FCCs. “Our research helps to establish the link between food contact chemicals and human exposure, highlights chemicals that are overlooked in biomonitoring studies and supports research into safer food contact materials,” lead author Birgit Geueke says.
All the data can be easily accessed and browsed in the accompanying Database on Food Contact Chemicals Monitored in Humans (FCChumon). FCChumon follows and builds on the previously published Food Contact Chemicals Database (FCCdb) and Database on Migrating and Extractable Food Contact Chemicals (FCCmigex). This work is part of the Food Contact Chemicals & Human Health (FCCH) project.
Reference
Geueke B., Parkinson, L.V., Groh K. J., Kassotis C. D., Maffini M. V., Martin O. V., Zimmermann L., Scheringer, M., and Muncke J. (2024). “Evidence for widespread human exposure to food contact chemicals.” Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology. DOI: 10.1038/s41370-024-00718-2
