Saving plastic beverage bottles is the habit of many parents and elders.
In addition to saving up and selling money, these plastic beverage bottles are often "wasted".
For example, it is used to dispense various seasonings such as soy sauce, vinegar, and oil.
This plastic beverage bottle with nozzle is often used by parents and elders and food vendors to fill oil or seasoning.
Image source: Courtesy of readers
Otherwise, it is used as a storage container for rice noodles, sesame seeds, chili noodles, etc.
This seems to be a good thing to be diligent and thrifty, but in fact, the reuse of plastic beverage bottles has no small safety hazards.
Some plastic beverage bottles themselves will also be marked with a "do not reuse" reminder, but many people ignore it.
Image source: Courtesy of the author
Why not
Reusing plastic beverage bottles?
At present, most of the plastic beverage bottles that you can buy are made of PET.
When a beverage product is designed and produced, the PET plastic bottle it uses will undergo a corresponding "migration experiment" to ensure that the harmful substances migrated from the food in the bottle when the PET plastic bottle contains the food under test will not exceed the safe limit.
Therefore, as long as the PET plastic beverage bottle itself meets the storage conditions, there is no damage to the opening and the like, and there is nothing wrong with it.
Most of the beverages sold in supermarkets and commissaries are packaged in PET plastic bottles.
Image source: Stand Cool Helo
But pay attention!
If reused, replacing the contents contained in it is likely to lead to the safety of plastic beverage bottles becoming unsafe.
It is actually a very inappropriate thing to use plastic beverage bottles filled with mineral water to fill with sauce, vinegar, oil or to store rice noodles, sesame seeds, chili noodles, etc.
Clear studies have shown that the amount of phthalate (a type of plasticizer) that migrates in water and oil is nearly 20 times different from that of the same PET plastic bottle at the same temperature.
In addition, the pH of vinegar is very low, and most PET plastic beverage bottles may use "antimony" in the production of metal catalysts, which will increase the emigration rate of this catalyst in acidic and alkaline environments.
The reason for the surge in the migration of these harmful substances has a lot to do with the wrong use of plastic beverage bottles.
Image source: from the internet
But some readers may be curious —
Many seasonings, grains and oils are also filled in plastic bottles, so there is no risk?
In this case, you really don't have to worry too much.
In order to meet the food safety of food safety, such as soy sauce and vinegar, grain and oil, the plastic containers they contain are "tailor-made".
Plastic containers used to hold spices, grains and oils, when designed and produced, will be used to carry out "migration experiments" with food simulants with similar substances, during which the packaging process and formula will be adjusted according to the characteristics of food, so that the migration experiment can be qualified and safety can be met.
Therefore, the "tailor-made" plastic containers are still relatively safe when containing spices, grains and oils.
However, plastic beverage bottles used to fill water or beverages will not adjust the process and formula for oil and vinegar.
The manufacturer itself did not let everyone continue to reuse the idea of these plastic beverage bottles, and naturally in the production stage, they would not spend more energy and cost to do extra things.
So there's really no need to take the risk of using plastic beverage bottles to refill seasonings or store food.
High temperature and time
Plastic beverage bottles will also be made
Become unsafe
High temperatures promote the spread of harmful substances.
After filling the seasonings with plastic beverage bottles, many people will choose to put them near the kitchen stove, and the high temperature of the fire may aggravate the activity of the molecules, and the spread of harmful substances in plastic beverage bottles will also be aggravated.
According to the thermodynamic diffusion curve model, the rate of diffusion of various harmful substances above 60°C is basically increased exponentially.
Plastic beverage bottles, filled with high-temperature liquids or close to high-temperature environments, will undergo distorted deformation.
In addition, long-term use is also a big problem.
Some friends use plastic drink bottles for seasonings, food, etc. at home, and one pack is a year and a half or even several years.
But in fact, even if pure water is packed at room temperature according to the designed use scenario, when the loading time exceeds the design age too much, there will also be a significant increase in the amount of organic matter in plastic beverage bottles.
That is not to mention that after changing the contents inside, it has been used for a long time, and the risk is great.
"2,6-Diaminotoluene" is one of the processing aids for plastic products, even at room temperature, with the increase of time, it will migrate more and more.
Image source: Literature
Substances that are moved out
How harmful is it to the human body?
Let's use the common PET plastic beverage bottle as an example.
The harmful substances migrated out of this plastic beverage bottle have many kinds according to the different production processes and materials themselves.
Except for some metal catalysts used in processing, such as "antimony", most of the others are "organic".
Let's start with antimony, a metal catalyst that is almost inevitable in the production of PET plastic bottles.
The toxicity of antimony is similar to that of arsenic, and it has a strong interference effect on the normal metabolism of the human body. Although the impact of small doses of antimony on the human body will not be very obvious, it has a certain accumulation effect, and long-term chronic intake will bring irreversible damage to various organs and systems of the human body.
Speaking of organic matter, most of the organic matter in PET plastic beverage bottles is an additive used in plastic processing to increase plasticity and improve product performance, providing flame retardant, coloring and other functions.
Among them, the additives used to increase plasticity are often heard as "plasticizers". There are many types of plasticizers, the vast majority of which are more or less toxic, and some of them, although lack of research, are certainly -
Plasticizers have absolutely no benefit to the human body, and if they can be avoided, they can be avoided.
Specially bought plastic storage tanks
Are there any risks?
Although plastic has many places to pay attention to when holding food, plastic itself is basically irreplaceable, and everyone will buy some plastic storage tanks and the like to hold food in their lives.
In fact, when using, as long as you follow the good instructions for use (such as the use temperature, the type of items you are carrying, whether you can reuse it, etc.), plastic products are still quite safe.
There is no need to talk about plastic discoloration.
However, the plastic products on the market are mixed, and the institute recommends that you pay attention to the following 4 points when purchasing and using plastic products:
Resolutely abandon disposable plastic products
In the migration experiment, the mobility requirements for multiplexed materials and disposable materials are very different.
The risks of reusing plastic beverage bottles are described above, and we will not repeat them. However, it should also be noted that disposable products such as takeaway lunch boxes are also recommended to be resolutely discarded after use. For cost control reasons, disposable lunch boxes usually do not have very high safety standards.
Find out which plastic product can be used, whether it can hold food and what kinds of food can be contained
The products required by the state for food contact should have similar terms such as "food contact", "food packaging", or "spoon chopsticks logo":
And before using plastic products, you should fully understand what foods can be packed or look at the instructions to prevent "marrying the wrong man on the wrong flower car".
Reusable plastic products should have a "reverse arrow mark" instead of a "triangle loop mark"
If a plastic product can be reused, it should have the following "reverse arrow logo".
The common "triangle circulation mark" actually means that this plastic product can be recycled, not to prove that it can be reused.
However, this standard is a recommended standard, not a mandatory standard, so it may not be that all plastic products have such a complete and standardized identification information.
Therefore, we recommend that you buy as much as possible in the big brands in the formal channels, and the corresponding protection may be higher. Avoid buying Sanwu products from small businesses and vendors, so that the risk may be higher.
It's too much trouble, use a "substitute"
There are too many plastic products and too complicated, and it happens that it is still the wrong choice to pick the eye.
If possible, you can choose glass, ceramic lunch boxes, water cups, seasoning jars, etc. The main pollutant migration of these materials is better than that of plastic products.
The problem of plastic products does make it difficult for many consumers to deal with, first of all, it is difficult for everyone to realize where the problem is inside, and secondly, it is difficult to see with the eyes.
In addition to the plastic beverage bottles we talked about today, the plastic bags that often appear in the fruit and vegetable areas of supermarkets have the same problem.
Many plastic bags used in regular supermarkets and markets have undergone great changes in recent years. From the beginning there was no logo, to the printing of "food bags", in recent years, it has been changed to "fruit and vegetable bags", and the use of the scene is becoming more and more clear.
This is the merchant found that some consumers take these plastic bags home, used to hold meat food or for a long time to store grain, seasonings, etc., these behaviors will cause safety hazards, so the merchants have made corresponding adjustments to remind everyone.
In today's world where the safety of plastic products is more concerned, in addition to the efforts of the state and businesses, we ourselves have to pay more attention to the use of the use.
Thriftiness is a virtue, but it has to be used in the right place.
There are also friends who will have questions when choosing plastic products:
What kinds of plastic can hold food?
PP、PET...... How to distinguish these plastic materials?
What do the numbers in the recycling logo mean?
So, we have compiled a super collectible one for you today
A complete list of plastic products
In the future, when buying water cups and lunch boxes, take a look at them first, and no longer have to worry about buying the wrong one!