Can plastic additives in everyday food add up across your diet?

What's actually in it

Food can pick up plastic additives from packaging, plastic wrap, ready-to-cook trays, storage containers, and processing equipment. The study looked at plasticizers, including phthalates and non-phthalate plasticizers such as ATBC and DEHA.

These chemicals are not recipe ingredients, so they usually are not on a food label. They can still move from food-contact materials into what you eat.

What the research says

A 2025 study in J Hazard Mater tested 109 food samples in a total-diet study. Plasticizers were found in 85% of analyzed samples, with total concentrations ranging from not detected to 22.0 micrograms per gram wet weight.

The study found DEHA was mainly linked to fresh food wrapped in plastic, while ATBC appeared often in some foods packaged in glass containers. Estimated daily intake ranged from 0.29 to 516 micrograms per kilogram body weight per day across infants, toddlers, and adults. A risk signal was found for DEHP in the infant baby-food subgroup.

Practical move: glass storage helps most after food comes home. Store leftovers in glass, avoid heating food in plastic, and reduce plastic-wrapped ready-to-cook meals when you can. Glass does not remove every packaging exposure, but it cuts one repeat source you control.