Plastic food packaging from five countries contains endocrine and metabolism disrupting chemicals

ABSTRACT Plastics are complex chemical mixtures of polymers and various intentionally and non-intentionally added substances. Despite the well-established links between certain plastic chemicals (bisphenols, phthalates) and adverse health effects, the composition and toxicity of real-world mixtures of plastic chemicals is not well understood. To assess both, we analyzed the chemicals from 36 plastic food contact articles from five countries using nontarget high-resolution mass spectrometry and reporter gene assays for four nuclear receptors that represent key components of the endocrine and metabolic system. We found that chemicals activating the pregnane X receptor (PXR), peroxisome proliferator receptor gamma (PPARγ), estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) and inhibiting the androgen receptor (AR) are prevalent in plastic packaging. We detected up to 9936 chemical features in a single product but found that each product has a rather unique chemical fingerprint. To tackle this chemical complexity, we used stepwise partial least squares regressions and prioritized and tentatively identified the chemical features associated with receptor activity. Our findings demonstrate that most plastic food packaging contains endocrine and metabolism disrupting chemicals. This shows that plastics are a relevant source of exposure to toxic chemicals and further supports the notion that plastic products designed for food contact cannot be considered safe.