Many of us take the time to read nutritional labels and shop for food that’s organic, locally grown, or sustainably produced. However, we also need to think about the safety of food packaging materials.
Food packaging safety isn’t just about tamper-proof and/or tamper-evident packaging. There’s another food packaging safety angle: the effect of food packaging material on the environment and our health.
How Toxic Packaging Materials Affect Meal Contents
Food packaging materials that are made from or coated with certain chemicals are a problem. This is because the chemicals can leach into the food you eat. This is especially the case if you heat the food in a container coated with or made from the offending chemical.
Over time, these chemicals can build up in your body and cause various health issues. Researchers have linked these issues to cancer and other health problems in different areas of the body:
- Endocrine system
- Immune system
- Kidney
- Liver
- Reproductive system
To improve the safety of food packaging materials, the United States (and another other countries) have banned many suspicious chemicals used in food packaging. However, not all countries have done this, so you need to be aware of which chemicals can, over the long-term, affect your health.
How Packaging Materials Affect the Environment
Researchers and environmentalists don’t completely understand the effect of food packaging material on the environment, they are concerned with:
- Energy use
- Harmful chemicals
- Sustainability
Energy Use
It takes a certain amount of energy to manufacture food packaging materials. The less energy that they use, the better it is for the environment.
Environmental benefits:
- Fewer natural resources used
- Less air and water pollution
Harmful Chemicals
Most of the food packaging we use ends up in landfills. Modern landfills are designed to protect the earth from chemicals leaking into the dirt and underground streams.
However, this isn’t true for other countries. It’s highly probable in those locations that chemicals are leaching into the water and ground.
Sustainability
In an ideal world, our planet would need very few landfills. Everything that we discard would be reusable, recyclable, or compostable.
We are far from realizing that ideal. However, we can make the choice to only buy food with packaging that is reusable, recyclable, or compostable.
RCG! Cooking Bags Are Safe for Packaging and Cooking
It would be wonderful if everyone agreed on the safety of food packaging materials. But the truth is, it’s a complicated topic.
Before we make any global decisions about food packaging material, we need time to research and evaluate our options. However, you can still take small steps toward better health for you, your family, and the planet.
One step you can take it to use RCG! cooking bags and containers. Your meals are safe whether they’re stored in the refrigerator or cooked in the crockpot, oven, microwave, or grill!
Learn More About RCG Cooking Bags and Containers
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