A study published in Food Chemistry investigated whether chemicals migrating from common food contact materials (FCMs), such as takeaway containers and coffee cups, may pose potential health concerns.
Researchers analysed six products, including coffee-to-go cups and meal containers made from cellulose-based materials, using advanced effect-directed analysis combining chemical screening with biological testing. The results suggest that chemical mixtures migrating from these materials exhibited a range of biological activities in vitro, including cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, and endocrine-disrupting effects.
Several known substances were identified within these mixtures, including compounds associated with estrogenic activity, cytotoxicity, and genotoxicity. The study also detected certain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), although these were considered to be of lower concern in this context.
The authors note that many chemicals present in food contact materials remain unidentified and lack toxicological data. While these findings are based on laboratory assays and do not directly translate to human health outcomes, they highlight the complexity of chemical exposure from packaging materials. Further research is needed to better understand long-term exposure and mixture effects under real-life conditions.
Ringelmann, A. E., König, L., Dombrowski, A., Oehlmann, J., Johann, S., Pfefferle, J., Hollert, H., Nobis, M., Zwiener, C., Brunn, H., & Morlock, G. E. (2026). Hazardous migrants from food contact materials by in vitro as well as planar bioassays and high-resolution mass spectrometry. Food Chemistry, 148659.
