Chemicals in the Food System

The HFHC program addresses chemicals in the food system via a number of our project areas. The Food Matters Clinical Education and Advocacy Program provides an in depth overview of these issues, and offers strategies for clinicians to help prevent harmful exposures. Our supply chain campaigns encourage hospitals to purchase organic foods, when possible, and to choose packaging free of toxic chemicals. Coming soon — links to allied organizations working to solve the issue of chemicals in the food chain!

Our current system of industrialized agriculture is dependent on the input of a vast array of toxic chemicals, creating hazards to both human and ecological health. The past 50 years has seen a shift away from local and fresh production to distant distribution of highly processed foods, which require fossil fuels and chemical inputs. Instead of crop rotation and diversification of crops to maintain fertility and manage pests, food production too often requires heavy use of pesticides and fertilizers. Food packaging is another source of exposure to unhealthy chemicals, such as plastics and Bisphenol-A.

About 1.2 billion pounds of pesticides are used in the US annually. Pesticides have a broad array of negative health effects. There is concern on many levels about the overuse of pesticides and their effects on public health. Farm workers and their families are most at risk, as they are exposed to pesticides directly in their work and in their communities on a daily basis. Residents who live in drift areas near agricultural fields where pesticides are regularly applied to crops and soils also bear a disproportionate risk. Consumers who consume foods with pesticide residues also carry pesticides and their by-products in their bodies.

Food packaging (cans, plastic bottles) has come under deeper scrutiny lately, as they generate a steady source of exposure to chemicals such as Bisphenol-A and phthalates. Both are endocrine disruptors, chemicals that mimic hormones in our bodies and interfere with reproduction, development, and other crucial life processes. Emerging research indicates that developmental exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals and others may play a role in the development of diabetes and childhood obesity. Some scientists have coined the term “obesogens” for chemicals that they believe may promote weight gain and obesity.

Another family of chemicals that is found in our food system is called Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxicants or PBTs. Methylmercury, ubiquitous in certain types of seafood such as tuna and swordfish, is an example of a PBT. Persistent chemicals such as mercury cycle through the natural food chain and can remain in the environment indefinitely. Like many other environmental chemicals, methylmercury exposure is of particular concern for pregnant women, as exposure in the womb can adversely affect a baby's growing brain and nervous system.

Upstream efforts to prevent chemical inputs into our food system are needed to protect consumers, and to protect the ecological health of the planet.