Recent studies show that microdrobines can migrate from foil, cups or boxes as easily as water vapor from boiling soup. For business, this means increasing health, regulatory and reputational risk, which It can translate into costs calculated not only in billions of euros, but also in lost consumer trust.
Victoria Fulfer from the University of Rhode Island points out that the designation “can be used in a microwave” It only protects the packaging itself against melting, not man against penetration of chemicals.
Plastic heating weakens polymer bonds, increasing the number of particles released for food and drinks – and at the first exposure.
The problem is becoming more and more serious
The scale of the problem increases every month. Just three days ago, the Italian -British medical team announced the first detection of microplastics in the liquid surrounding women's eggs undergoing infertility.
Particles were found in 14 out of 18 patients, and the research conducting prof. Luigi Montano defined the results as Alarming, indicating possible consequences for fertility and hormonal economy.
Other loud works, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, showed that people who have atherosclerotic plates found micro- or nanoplastics, they were nearly five times more vulnerable for a heart attack, stroke or death in three years of observation.
In these particles, researchers see a new risk factor for cardiovascular disease, comparable to air pollution. Dr. Leonardo Trasande from NYU adds to the list of potential effects also hormone -dependent cancers: breasts, thyroid or ovary.
Also bad for economics
The economic dimension of the phenomenon is difficult to overestimate. On the one hand, the health care system may face an avalanche increase in the costs of treating chronic diseases associated with plastic exposure. On the other – Investors are already starting to ask companies about plans to limit microplastics in the supply chainand consumers are increasingly voting with a portfolio against excessive plastic.
Regulations accelerate. On February 11, 2025, Regulation (EU) 2025/40 entered into force, which requires that each packaging to reach the community market should be designed for recycling, minimum mass and transparent labeling. Act It also limits the presence of PFAS in food contact materials.
At the same time, the EU prohibition of deliberately adding microplastics to consumer products and the draft regulation to seal plastic granules supply chains, the third largest source of unintentional micro -permission in Europe, is underway.
On the other side of the Atlantic, California implements the SB 54 Act, ordering the reduction of disposable materials by 25 percent. and 65 percent Recycling level until 2032. New York and the Eastern United States They are working on similar regulations, and the UN global treaty against plastic pollution is to be completed this year.
Companies operating in the food industry, FMCG IE -Commerce So they face the urgent task of redesigning packaging. Glass, stainless steel and cellulose composites are becoming more and more popular. Colorful chemistry also gains significance, which – as Dr. Trasande suggests – can soon help visualize micro -processes during quality control, and thus limiting their presence on the market.
“Invisible threat requires us to act here and now,” emphasizes Trasande. The question remains whether business will answer this appeal as quickly as a microplastik can penetrate our meal.
