Plastic products
Nowadays, plastics are the most widely used materials for food packaging and the production of various dishes and utensils, which are used both in the food industry and in households. According to global estimates, approximately 70 to 80% of food is packaged in various polymer materials.
Plastics are organic macromolecular compounds to which other substances or materials can be added. Plastics can be a potential source of release of chemicals into food, although there is usually no risk of acute poisoning with fatal consequences. This is why we are not fully aware of the real contribution of plastics to real food contamination.
The components of plastics do not act like pesticides or other highly bioactive substances, and damage to human health due to their acute toxicity is unlikely. However, plastics can cause chronic effects as a result of repeated ingestion of large numbers of small doses, none of which by themselves pose an acute hazard; however, they have a cumulative toxic effect over a long period of time.
Plastics and products made from them can act as a "repository" of organic (sometimes also inorganic) compounds that they release into the environment during their lifetime, i.e. the food they come into contact with.