Recycled Food Packaging: Good for Earth, Bad for Health? We know
that, generally, buying in bulk is the greenest and most
economical option, but could it also be the safest? That might
be the case (no pun intended), considering that packaging has of
late been posing a health risk: The BBC reported that mineral
oils from the inks on recycled packaging are contaminating foods
like pasta, rice, and cereal that are sold in cartons made from
recycled cardboard. The effects of ingesting mineral oil are
linked to cancer and chronic inflammation of internal organs.
The exposure would have to occur over a number of years,
furthers Dr. Koni Grob, who's been spearheading the research at
a food-safety lab in Zurich. According to Grob and his Swiss
researchers) who last year tested 119 such products and found
that only 30 were free of mineral oils), the longer a product is
on the shelves, the more mineral oil it’s likely to absorb. Most
shocking is that for the remaining 89 products, mineral-oil
level exceeded the healthy