| You Are What You Eat From: The Safety of Food Containers | ||||||||||||||
| By Pei Fan-qiang Translated by Tang Yau-yang Photos by Alberto Buzzola Used with permission of Rhythms Monthly Magazine | ||||||||||||||
Prepared food offered to restaurant patrons comes into contact with many things before it is ingested by its consumers. This holds true whether the establishment is a five-star restaurant or a greasy-spoon food stall on the side of a busy street. In this photo, look at all that touches the food: the plates, the condiment containers, not to mention the single-use plastic bags, bowls, chopsticks, and spoons. Are such non-food items used in the delivery of food to the mouth safe? Do they, once put in contact with the food—like the stinky tofu here in the foreground—trigger chemical reactions that may be harmful to the consumer? Should the consumer beware? In January 2014, CNN rated “night markets” at the top of a list of the “ten things Taiwan does better than anywhere else.” As many as 300 such open-air bazaars were estimated to dot Taiwan, an island ten times smaller than Japan and three times smaller than South Korea. The many eateries in these night markets serve a large clientele on the go. Patrons simply order, grab their food, and go. To accommodate these types of customers, food providers usually put their fare in single-use containers. These convenient take-out containers make food-on-the-go possible, but are they safe for consumers? And what about the reusable dishes and bowls that an eatery or restaurant uses to serve its food to the customers who eat on the premises? Are those any safer?
Prepared food itself is often under more stringent scrutiny for safety than the containers in which it is served. However, such containers physically touch the food and may result in unintentional chemical reactions that escape the detection of the eyes or taste buds of the eaters. Thus, the hidden results of these reactions may be ingested by unsuspecting consumers. “Food containers are an integral part of food safety,” said Lin Pin-pin (林嬪嬪), associate director at the National Environmental Health Research Center in Taiwan. “Drinking clean water from a dirty glass is just as likely to cause diarrhea as drinking dirty water.” The safety of food containers is therefore an issue that cannot be ignored.
Food containers “Food containers are made primarily of metal, glass, paper, ceramic or clay, composites, and plastic,” said Professor Chiang Been-huang (蔣丙煌) of the Institute of Food Science and Technology at National Taiwan University. “Each of the various materials excels in certain aspects, but lags in others. A container is good only if it is used in the right place.” Food containers have evolved through the ages with humanity. Stone, clay, bronze, and iron vessels have all been used at one time or another. As human civilization progressed, more materials were introduced, especially after the Russian scientist Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev (1834-1907) formulated the Periodic Law and created a version of the periodic table of elements. Chemists ever since have unceasingly created new, synthetic materials by combining chemical elements. Advances in manufacturing technologies have enabled mass production of food containers. This has been especially true of the plastic variety, whose low cost, light weight, and durability have gradually helped make it the mainstream material of choice for food containers. Such progress brought much convenience to modern life, and the new plastics seemed innocuous at first. But are they really as good and as harmless as they first appeared? Lately, news reports in Taiwan have focused attention on materials used in the manufacturing of plastic containers, stainless steel containers, and cooking utensils. These reports emphasize that the materials used to make food containers could potentially harm health. Suddenly, it seems that many things we used to think were safe to use are not so harmless after all. Are there any laws governing the safety of food containers? Yes, according to Yeh Ming-kung (葉明功), director-general of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The Sanitation Standard for Food Utensils, Containers and Packages has set standards for ‘leaching tests’ and ‘materials quality tests,’” said Yeh. “Materials quality tests restrict the amount of toxic substances in containers, such as vinyl chloride and heavy metals, where leaching tests simulate the possible dissolution of elements with containers in actual use.” However, despite the laws, containers of problematic quality still appear on the market.
The two faces of plastic One can often see people picking up recyclables in Taiwan nowadays. Most do it out of a good heart to help the environment. Others are financially motivated, selling what they collect for cash. Much less often, one can see people pedaling or driving a tri- or quadcycle fitted with a flatbed as they patrol neighborhoods, shouting or broadcasting their intention to buy recyclable garbage. This phenomenon is a holdover from a bygone era, before the economy in Taiwan took off. Out of necessity, people in those days led a frugal life and did a thorough job of living by the Three R’s—reduce, reuse, and recycle—though that jargon had not yet been introduced back then. “My mother often recalls how in the old days she would eagerly pick up a plastic bottle, which she either sold for money or kept as a water jar,” Professor Chiang said. “Back then, it would be hard for folks like her to imagine that precious things like plastic bottles would become big piles of problems today.” In Taiwan, like in many places around the world, plastic bottles have become a big problem because people use and throw away so many of them every day. And the problem is not limited to plastic bottles either. Single-use plastic bags and eating utensils are an issue too. To see the prevalence of the problem, pick any eatery at random. Chances are high that many one-use utensils and food containers are used in delivering its food to customers. Piping hot stinky tofu served in plastic bowls, noodles and steaming soup poured into plastic bags for take-out orders, or juice poured into paper cups to go—these are but a few examples of how disposable food containers have become thoroughly integrated into Taiwan’s food culture. Convenience is a big reason why these single-use containers and eating utensils are so popular, but it’s not the only reason. Back in the 1980s, to prevent the spread of contagious hepatitis, the government actively promoted the use of disposable eating utensils. This also helped lead to the over-use of plastic products in Taiwan. “In addition to polluting the environment, plastic containers can harm human health,” said Xie He-lin (謝和霖), secretary general of the Taiwan Watch Institute, an environmental watchdog group. “Containers made of Styrofoam were outlawed by 2002, but they’re still in use today.” Then he held up a PVC container for peanut candy. “This kind of container is also poisonous. When food is stored inside containers like this, it becomes harmful to the heart, lungs, and the developing reproductive system in young male consumers. The use of such containers should be halted immediately.” The reality about plastic Although plastics seem to pose countless problems in the eyes of environmental groups or scholars, there is no denying that no other substance can yet replace it completely today.
Xie Sheng-hai (謝勝海), chief of staff at the Taiwan Plastics Industry Association, offered another perspective: “Even the EU is still using PVC. Actually, the use of Styrofoam and PVC in making food containers in Taiwan is decreasing. When we get down to it, what kind of container is one hundred percent safe?” Professor Chiang, who specializes in food packaging, pointed out that it would be hard to guarantee that plastic containers would not release substances harmful to humans. However, because many variables come into play, it would be equally hard to determine the effects of plastics on humans. “All I can say is that it should not be all that bad if one occasionally eats food from PVC containers,” he said. “After all, one doesn’t do that every day or eat a whole lot.” “Nonetheless,” he continued, “everyone is well advised to know the seven types of plastic containers. That helps with recycling, and it helps one to know the temperature thresholds to which each type of plastic can be safely heated so as to minimize the potential harm to the body.” Although that is good advice, it is not often heeded. Usually, people simply seek convenience, or they are accustomed to using plastic things and simply do things the way they always have. After all, convenience is hard to resist. That’s why it is not surprising to see large plastic scoops being used to scoop steaming hot soybean milk out of a pot to serve customers at typical breakfast joints in Taiwan. That scoop, a common household tool in Taiwan for transferring water from one container to another, is designed for handling cold water only. And yet customers do not even raise an eyebrow at its improper and perhaps very unsafe use. When we visited a factory in central Taiwan that makes soy sauce, we saw ceramic pots in which soybeans ferment and mature. However, when the product was ready for shipment, it was poured out of the ceramic pots into big plastic buckets. This was done to avoid breaking any pots in transit. The factory apparently does not think of the possibility that the plastic buckets might release bad substances into the sauce.
In some homes around Taiwan, there is a similarly questionable practice in which people prepare preserved food from fresh ingredients. Food preservation has a long history in all corners of the world. It is done today less out of necessity as in the past, but more out of a desire to satisfy people’s palates. Kimchi, for example, is popular in many Taiwanese households. However, some households use large plastic buckets not designed to contain food to store or ferment their pickled ingredients. The same question about food safety applies here equally well: Will the food being preserved cause the container to leach substances into the food, which will harm its future consumers? Some families and restaurants use plastic buckets for kitchen waste. Scraps of uneaten vegetables, fruit, and meat end up in such a container, along with seasonings and taste enhancers of all types, such as salt, sugar, vinegar, spices, wine, and MSG. It is hard to know what chemical interactions may occur inside the container. Some people might say, “Well, who cares anyway? We’re not going to eat that stuff—it’s just garbage.” But you should care—if you eat pork, for example. Kitchen waste is used as feed on some pig farms. Consider the possibility that toxins may leach out of plastic buckets into the kitchen waste, which later finds its way into the stomachs of the pigs. Then the pigs, along with the leached toxins, become food that is ingested by human bodies. He Zong-yi (何宗益) is the president of HDPE Star Enterprise Co., Ltd., the largest manufacturer of plastic pails in Taiwan. He observed, “You’re well advised to find out what raw materials a manufacturer uses in making a plastic container. Be sure not to use a plastic container to store things that are highly acidic or highly alkaline.” He said that most people use plastic containers to store pickled food purely because they’re easy to get. Many people have opted for expedience over safety, so much so that the practice has come to appear safe to the public. But the fact is, it is not. Perhaps people do not realize that some of those pails they use are intended for industrial use. As such, they are not regulated as food containers, and therefore not subject to the leaching tests and materials quality tests under the jurisdiction of the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration. It is tragic to think that day by day, year in and year out, toxins leached from such containers into food may have been ingested by unsuspecting consumers, silently eroding their health. Not just plastics If plastic containers pose such hazards, perhaps we can find better containers made from other materials. People who are more eco-minded may prefer single-use paper containers over plastic, because paper seems better for the environment and safer than plastic. Besides, paper cups, bowls, and meal boxes are heat tolerant, so they can even be put into microwaves to heat up. For these reasons, they have become popular items that local eateries use to serve food to their customers. Though seemingly more benign than plastic, paper containers nonetheless also require chemicals in the process of their manufacturing to make them more durable. To hold watery, greasy foods, paper food containers used in Chinese restaurants additionally require a coat of low-density polyethylene, LDPE, to make them nonporous to oil. This practice undoubtedly raises concerns for health-conscious consumers. To placate potential customers, Yuen Foong Paper Co., Ltd., a major paper manufacturer in Taiwan, invented a paper product that is nonporous to oil but does not contain plastic. “This eliminates the possibility of food being polluted by plastic,” claimed Chen Yong-zhi (陳勇志), a plant manager of the company. “In addition, containers made of this kind of oil-resistant paper can be recycled directly as paper after use.” But plastic coatings are not the only treatment that could make paper food containers unsafe. An unscrupulous major maker of paper containers ordered its employees to clean ink stains on paper cups and meal boxes with toluene, a poisonous substance. The company had supplied major restaurants, large chain stores, and large lunch suppliers for many schools. Knowing that, “I wash a paper container before I use it,” said Wang Pai-qing (王派清), director general of the Association of Food Container Businesses in Taipei. So, if plastics are not safe, and even paper containers raise concerns, is there anything that is safe? “As far as food containers go, pottery, porcelain, and glass have the best stability,” Professor Chiang pointed out. “Even so, pottery fired at low temperatures poses the risks of leaching lead, antimony, and cadmium; containers made from crystal, a form of glass that has a higher lead content, pose the risks of lead poisoning.” Now even glass and porcelain containers, the supposedly safe choices, may not be what they have been cracked up to be. That probably leaves the camp of better food containers with a lone member: stainless steel. But even this durable and environmentally friendly metal has not escaped its share of negative publicity on safety grounds. Near the end of 2013, news reports of excessive manganese content in stainless steel containers erupted and stirred up emotions and fear in Taiwan. These reports claimed that too much manganese might cause dementia. Hsu Ming-neng (許銘能), a deputy minister of Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare, commented, “Manganese is essential to the human body.” Such conflicting information, if anything, only adds to confusion. Another government official weighed in: “The human body does need a miniscule amount of manganese, but too much of it, of course, can be pathogenic,” said Lin Pin-pin of the National Environmental Health Research Center. “Containers made of stainless steel are assigned numbers to represent their content,” Lin continued. “Stainless steel generally leaches very little, not to the extent of causing harm to people, but that risk goes up with low-grade containers or those from dubitable sources.” Various tests are conducted in the labs of Lin’s organization to help guard the people of Taiwan against toxins. According to Lin, it’s just not possible to see test results that show absolutely no trace of leached substances, but they try to follow scientific standards to provide reasonable safeguards for public health.
Better alternatives? In view of the problems caused by food containers, especially single-use containers, people have endeavored to come up with better alternatives. Dai Jia-liang (戴嘉良), owner of Songyu Technology Company in Rende, southern Taiwan, is one example. Dai invented a disposable food container that is made from rice chaff and glutinous rice. Such containers are biodegradable, and they possess the benefits of plastic containers with none of their drawbacks. They are not dangerous to human health, and they are very friendly to the environment.
“Every person should shoulder their share of social responsibility. Dai has done that by inventing this kind of healthful and eco-preserving container,” Chou Huann-ming (周煥銘), dean of the College of Engineering at Kun Shan University, said by way of encouragement. Sadly, the product has been coolly received in the market. “I have about 70,000 of them sitting in the warehouse,” Dai said with a wry smile. “We surmounted hurdles in development and production, but not in cost. The unit cost of our bowl has been stuck in the eight to nine dollars [25 to 30 American cents] range. That quickly cools the interest of business inquirers.” Plastic or paper single-use containers cost just a fraction as much. It appears that people are interested in helping the environment—but only if they don’t have to pay too dearly, at least not at levels that Dai needs to sustain his invention. Safer alternatives to existing food containers prove elusive. The cost has proven to be a formidable adversary. This hurdle may be lowered by heightening the perceived value of safer containers, perhaps by education and spreading the word. The more consumers know about the hazards of unsafe containers and how those hazards come about, the more likely they are to consider using alternatives. Experts offer their bit of informed advice: “Simply put, few cheap things are good,” Professor Chiang offered as simple, wise advice. “Avoid products that are too brightly colored,” FDA director-general Yeh Ming-kung advised. “But if you must use them, you should at least avoid using them, particularly plastic containers, to hold hot or fatty food.” Chen Yong-zhi, of Yuen Foong Paper Co., suggests to his clients, “Avoid making overly colorful prints on your paper containers.” Like other additives or foreign materials, ink used on paper containers leaches too.
Lin Pin-pin, of the National Environmental Health Research Center, offered her advice as a toxicologist: “Buy things that are in their original colors, which are safest. If you must have a colorful food container, choose one that is plain on the inside wall. Never let your food touch the ink or paint on the container.” Professor Chiang was blunter: “If you have nice-looking containers, just look at them. Don’t eat from them.” The government undoubtedly has a responsibility for safeguarding the safety of food and food containers. But no public effort can ever totally replace each person’s direct attention to food or container safety. So, the old adage is as true in this area as in others: “Let the buyer beware.”
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