Our food: packaging & public health

From Food to Gods to Food to Waste

The present global food waste problem threatens food systems sustainability and our planet. The generation of food waste stems from the interacting factors of the need for food production, food access and availability, motivations and ignorance around food purchase and consumption, and market constraints. Food waste has increased over time. This is related to the change in how humans value food through the generations and altered human food consumption and food discard behaviors. There is also a lack of understanding of the impacts of current food production, processing and consumption patterns on food waste creation. This review examines the cultural, religious, social and economic factors influencing attitudes to food and their effects on food waste generation. The lessons from history about how humans strove toward zero waste are covered. We review the important drivers of food waste: waste for profit, food diversion to feed, waste for convenience, labeling, food service waste and household food waste. We discuss strategies for food waste reduction: recovery of food and food ingredients, waste conversion to energy and food, reducing waste from production/processing and reducing consumer food waste, and emphasize the need for all stakeholders to work together to reduce food waste.

Evaluating different web applications to assess the toxicity of plasticizers

Plasticizers increase the flexibility of plastics. As environmental leachates they lead to increased water and soil pollution, as well as to serious harm to human health. This study was set out to explore various web applications to predict the toxicological properties of plasticizers. Web-based tools (e.g., BOILED-Egg, LAZAR, PROTOX-II, CarcinoPred-EL) and VEGA were accessed via an 5th-10th generation computer in order to obtain toxicological predictions. Based on the LAZAR mutagenicity assessment was only bisphenol F predicted as mutagenic. The BBP and DBP in RF; DEHP in RF and XGBoost; DNOP in RF and XGBoost models were predicted as carcinogenic in the CarcinoPred-EL web application. From the bee predictive model (KNN/IRFMN) BPF, di-n-propyl phthalate, diallyl phthalate, dibutyl phthalate, and diisohexyl phthalate were predicted as strong bee toxicants. Acute toxicity for fish using the model Sarpy/IRFMN predicted 19 plasticizers as strong toxicants with LC50 values of less than 1 mg/L. This study also considered plasticizer effects on gastrointestinal absorption and other toxicological endpoints.

Innovative Food Packaging, Food Quality and Safety, and Consumer Perspectives

Packaging is an integral part of the food industry associated with food quality and safety including food shelf life, and communications from the marketing perspective. Traditional food packaging provides the protection of food from damage and storage of food products until being consumed. Packaging also presents branding and nutritional information and promotes marketing. Over the past decades, plastic films were employed as a barrier to keep food stuffs safe from heat, moisture, microorganisms, dust, and dirt particles. Recent advancements have incorporated additional functionalities in barrier films to enhance the shelf life of food, such as active packaging and intelligent packaging. In addition, consumer perception has influences on packaging materials and designs. The current trend of consumers pursuing environmental-friendly packaging is increased. With the progress of applied technologies in the food sector, sustainable packaging has been emerging in response to consumer preferences and environmental obligations. This paper reviews the importance of food packaging in relation to food quality and safety; the development and applications of advanced smart, active, and intelligent packaging systems, and the properties of an oxygen barrier. The advantages and disadvantages of these packaging are discussed. Consumer perceptions regarding environmental-friendly packaging that could be applied in the food industry are also discussed.

CRISPR screen identified that UGT1A9 was required for bisphenols-induced mitochondria dyshomeostasis

Exposure to bisphenols chemicals could cause various adverse health effects, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which have been associated with cellular mitochondria stress. However, the biological mechanism underlying the mitochondria stress-mediated cell death by bisphenols was poorly understood. Here, CRISPR screens were performed to identify the critical genes which were involved in cell death caused by exposure to four bisphenols (BPA, BPB, BPE and BPS). Results of CRISPR screens showed that UGT1A9 was the primary genetic factor facilitating cell death induced by all of the four bisphenols. Systematic toxicological tests demonstrated that UGT1A9 was required for BPA-induced mitochondria dyshomeostasis in vitro and in vivo, and UGT1A9-mediated mitochondria dyshomeostasis was an important cause of facilitating cell death. Liver injury caused by exposure to BPA in wild-type mice was accompanied with suppression of mitophagy and increased expression of C-Caspase 3, but UGT1A9 knockout attenuated these adverse effects induced by BPA. Finally, molecular epidemiology analysis suggested that the five genetic variants of UGT1A9 could be potential genetic risk factors of NAFLD when people were exposed to BPA. The biological mechanism uncovered here provided mechanistic evidence for identification of susceptible populations of liver injury associated with exposure to BPA.

Polyolefins and Polyethylene Terephthalate Package Wastes: Recycling and Use in Composites

Plastics are versatile materials used in a variety of sectors that have seen a rapid increase in their global production. Millions of tonnes of plastic wastes are generated each year, which puts pressure on plastic waste management methods to prevent their accumulation within the environment. Recycling is an attractive disposal method and aids the initiative of a circular plastic economy, but recycling still has challenges to overcome. This review starts with an overview of the current European recycling strategies for solid plastic waste and the challenges faced. Emphasis lies on the recycling of polyolefins (POs) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) which are found in plastic packaging, as packaging contributes a signification proportion to solid plastic wastes. Both sections, the recycling of POs and PET, discuss the sources of wastes, chemical and mechanical recycling, effects of recycling on the material properties, strategies to improve the performance of recycled POs and PET, and finally the applications of recycled POs and PET. The review concludes with a discussion of the future potential and opportunities of recycled POs and PET.

Trends in packaging material for food products: historical background, current scenario, and future prospects

The commercial demand for food products and dietary supplements has increased drastically in the last few decades. The packed food products and nutritional supplements have made a profound impact on the modern human lifestyle. Since ancient times, storage and long-term use of food products remain a significant challenge for humans. There are different parameters for the evaluation of food products and dietary supplements broadly categorized as quality control and quality assurance. On an average million tons of food, materials get spoiled daily worldwide due to lack of storage and transportation point out packaging systems inequalities. To ensure the quality of packed food products and nutritional supplements among available measures, packaging remained an important event and had been refined from time to time to provide a standard. Over a period, the packaging industry has evolved using modern technology from the conventional methods of new generation packaging, including glass, wood, and paper to most new biodegradable materials. The ancient pattern of packaging; manual packaging has been taken over by an automated system of packing, resulting in enhanced output with minimal chance of damage to valuable products for humanity. The article will emphasize new insights into current packaging system not only provide the quality of these products but also in aiming new heights beyond conventional technologies and consumer opinions. In the present study, we have given more emphasis on novel methods of packaging, the packaging materials, quality of packed products, and their impacts of food products on the environment.

Food packaging's materials: A food safety perspective

Food packaging serves purposes of food product safety and easy handling and transport by preventing chemical contamination and enhancing shelf life, which provides convenience for consumers. Various types of materials, including plastics, glass, metals, and papers and their composites, have been used for food packaging. However, owing to consumers' increased health awareness, the significance of transferring harmful materials from packaging materials into foods is of greater concern. This review highlights the interactions of food with packaging materials and elaborates the mechanism, types, and contributing factors of migration of chemical substances from the packaging to foods. Also, various types of chemical migrants from different packaging materials with their possible impacts on food safety and human health are discussed. We conclude with a future outlook based on legislative considerations and ongoing technical contributions to optimization of food-package interactions.

Participation in local food projects is associated with better psychological well-being: evidence from the East of England

Background

Studies suggest that local food may contribute to well-being, but do not use standardized measures, or control groups.

Methods

An online survey compared participants of local food initiatives (n = 302) with members of the general population (n = 157) in terms of scores on standardized measures of well-being and distress. Using hierarchical ordinary least squares regression models, we explored the relationship between participation and well-being via four mediators—nature connectedness, psychological need satisfaction, diet and physical activity.

Results

Participants scored higher than non-participants on life satisfaction (t(346) = 2.30, P = 0.02, ρr = 0.12) and the WEMWBS scale (t(335) = 2.12, P = 0.04, ρr = 0.10), but differences in psychological distress were insignificant. More actively engaged participants scored higher on positive well-being and longer duration participation was associated with higher life satisfaction and less psychological distress. Finally, we found that participation contributes to psychological need satisfaction, better diet and connection to nature, three known drivers of well-being.

Conclusions

Well-being may be a co-benefit of local food initiatives beyond the physical and psychological benefits of growing food. Further research is needed to explore the mediators driving these effects, quantify benefits, and track impacts over time and across different social groups.

Assessing the impact of hazardous waste on children's health: The exposome paradigm

Assessment of the health impacts related to hazardous waste is a major scientific challenge with multiple societal implications. Most studies related to associations between hazardous waste and public health do not provide established of mechanistic links between environmental exposure and disease burden, resulting in ineffective waste management options. The exposome concept comes to overhaul the nature vs. nurture paradigm and embraces a world of dynamic interactions between environmental exposures, endogenous exposures and genetic expression in humans. In this context, the exposome paradigm provides a novel tool for holistic hazardous waste management. Waste streams and the related contamination of environmental media are not viewed in isolation, but rather as components of the expotype, the vector of exposures an individual is exposed to over time. Thus, a multi-route and multi-pathway exposure estimation can be performed setting a realistic basis for integrated health risk assessment. Waste management practices are thus assessed not only regarding their technological edge and efficacy but also their effects on human health at the individual and community level, considering intra-subject variability in the affected population. The effectiveness of the exposome approach is demonstrated in the case of Athens, the capital of Greece, where the health effects associated to long term and short term exposure to two major waste management facilities (landfill and plastic recycling) are presented. Using the exposome analysis tools, we confirmed that proximity to a landfill is critical for children neurodevelopment. However, this effect is significantly modified by parameters such as parental education level, socioeconomic status and nutrition. Proximity to a plastics recycling plant does not pose significant threats under normal operating conditions; yet, in the case of an accidental fire, release of persistent carcinogenic compounds (dioxins and furans) even for a short period results in increased lifelong risk, especially for breast feeding neonates.