Make Our Food Safer. Ban Toxins in Food Packaging!

Tell your U.S. Representatives and Senators to co-sponsor and pass the No Toxics in Food Packaging Act.

Most of us assume that when we buy food for ourselves and our families, the packaging surrounding it has been tested and proven safe. We trust that the container holding a child’s snack, a family’s takeout meal, or fresh produce from the grocery store won’t contaminate the food inside.

Unfortunately, that trust is often misplaced.

Whether you buy conventional food or organic food, toxic packaging can contaminate what ends up on your plate. Choosing healthier foods should not be undermined by chemicals hidden in the packaging.

Food packaging comes in many forms—plastic clamshells, Styrofoam containers, paperboard boxes, metal cans, plastic wraps, and more. Hidden within much of this packaging are toxic chemicals that can migrate directly into the food we eat.

That means the sandwich packed for your child’s lunch, the berries you carefully selected, or the healthy organic meal you purchased may come with an unwanted side of hormone-disrupting chemicals, carcinogens, and other toxic substances.

The science is alarming.

A 2023 study published in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety found that chronic exposure to nanoplastics from polystyrene caused significant damage to the intestinal barriers of mice, raising concerns about potential impacts on human health. Styrofoam cups, takeout containers, and other polystyrene packaging can leach toxic chemicals into food and beverages, exposing consumers with every meal.

Another 2023 study found that thermal labels attached to plastic-wrapped foods—including the stickers on fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, and cheese—can transfer Bisphenol S (BPS) through the packaging and into the food itself. The levels detected exceeded European Union safety thresholds. BPS is an endocrine disruptor associated with cancer, neurological harm, and reproductive toxicity.

The troubling reality is that these findings are not isolated incidents. Despite repeated industry assurances that food packaging chemicals are safe, study after study has shown that chemicals used in both virgin and recycled plastics migrate into food. In fact, recycled plastics likely contain an even more complex mixture of hazardous contaminants.

Americans should not have to become toxicologists to buy groceries.

Parents shouldn’t have to wonder whether a container of takeout food contains chemicals that could disrupt their child’s hormones. Families shouldn’t have to worry that the packaging surrounding their food could increase their risk of cancer, infertility, developmental harm, or neurological damage.

Yet current laws continue to allow many of these dangerous substances to come into direct contact with our food.

The No Toxics in Food Packaging Act, introduced by U.S. Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-09) and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), would finally begin to close this dangerous loophole by banning many of the most hazardous chemicals used in food packaging and food processing materials.

The bill targets chemicals linked to cancer, endocrine disruption, reproductive harm, developmental damage, and other serious health risks—including PFAS “forever chemicals,” phthalates, bisphenols such as BPA and BPS, styrene polymers, formaldehyde, benzene, ethylene oxide, and numerous other toxic substances.

As Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro stated:

“Americans are waking up to a vast number of toxic substances that contaminate their food regularly and they are rightfully demanding action… Toxic substances must be banned from food packaging. Americans deserve the peace of mind that the products they buy are not increasing their risk of cancer or hormone disruption.”

Our families deserve better. Our children deserve better.

Tell your U.S. Representatives and Senators to co-sponsor and pass the No Toxics in Food Packaging Act today.

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