How to Store and Reheat Leftovers
Plastic Food Containers, Health, and Better Food Storage Solutions
Sep 30, 2009
It's been a rite of passage for anyone growing up in the last three decades to learn how to burp a Tupperware storage container. Tupperware and other brands of plastic storage containers are ubiquitous these days. Sometimes you even see large plastic containers to store your smaller plastic containers in.
Is there a potential health downside to using all this plastic to store our food—i.e., do chemicals leach into our food from the plastic storage containers? We'll discuss that, and suggest a few options for non-plastic food containers, some of which will even save you money.Several research studies have found that when plastic comes in contact with certain foods, molecules of the chemicals in the plastic can leach into the food or beverage. Certain characteristics of the food item can make it more likely to pick up plastic molecules:
- the more it touches the plastic, so the more opportunity it has to pick up plastic molecules.
- sauce, appear to be particularly interactive with plastic.
- a plastic container—even if the container is microwave-safe—the transference of plastic from the container to the food is even more likely.
When molecules of plastic—or more properly, molecules of the chemicals that get added to plastics during manufacturing—get into our bodies, it's not a good thing. They can cause unwanted effects in the human body; for instance, some of the chemicals mimic estrogen. Estrogen, of course, is a normal, essential human hormone; but having too much of it (or the molecules that mimic estrogen) has been associated with breast cancer and other health problems.
In general, chemicals that fool the body into thinking they are estrogen or other hormones are called endocrine disruptors and are best avoided.We don't have any data on "bad molecules" off-gassing from food-container lids and then going via the air into the food in the container. It's certainly possible—new products in general often have a plasticy odor for a while after they're unboxed. But at some point, the off-gassing stabilizes.
Just to be safe, it's probably a good idea to let plastic lids for new food-storage containers sit out for a while to off-gas (in an area with good ventilation) before they can be use them. How long? If they still smell strongly of plastic, then longer!
As for containers with metal tops, they would probably have less of an off-gassing issue, though metal used in food applications is sometimes coated with a thin layer of plastic.
For some types of food storage requirements, there is also a free solution. For small and medium storage needs, the glass food jars that you would otherwise throw out or recycle make great storage containers once they have been washed and the label has been removed. Jars with a minimal amount of constriction in the neck—like peanut butter jars or squat-style olive jars—work best.
 |
