A study published in the  Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology found that out of the 14,000 known FCCs, or food contact chemicals, 3601 (or about 25%) have been found present in human bodies. 80% of these have hazard properties of high concern. Fifty-nine of these lack any hazard data.

Many FCCs are of concern for human health because they have hazard properties such as carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, and reprotoxicity (CMR), endocrine disrupting properties, bioaccumulation potential, and/or persistence [17, 20, 21]. In addition, toxicity data are often incomplete or missing, which means that safe use cannot be assessed [17, 22, 23]. Therefore, reducing exposure to known hazardous FCCs and assessing untested FCCs can contribute to the prevention of non-communicable diseases that are associated with chemical exposures [24, 25].

FCMs are a well-known and relevant exposure source for phthalates and their alternatives, metals, VOCs, and phenolic compounds. These chemicals are regularly monitored and detected in human biomonitoring programs and frequently found in FCMs (Fig. 5A), and there is ample evidence for their migration, e.g. [17, 59,60,61]. There is also evidence for the presence of PFAS in humans and in FCMs. Although most PFAS have never been authorized for food contact use [62], the contribution of food packaging to human exposure has been mapped [63]. Dioxin-like compounds, many pesticides, and flame retardants are not intentionally added FCCs, but they may be present in FCMs because they are introduced or formed during FCM use, manufacture, and recycling, as their detection in FCMs shows [64,65,66].