Disadvantages of Microwaving Food in Plastic

Submitted by Stella Morgan on December 3, 2009

All kinds of technologies have their benefits and disadvantages. However, there are specific technologies which may periodically ignite fears of health risks. Your microwave oven is one such technology.

A few years ago, a study claimed that microwave ready food was packaged in plastics which allowed low levels of benzene to leach into the food. The packaging was made of PET plastic that was bonded to aluminum by an adhesive that leached carcinogenic compounds.

Though later, the packaging was changed to meet FDA standards, this incident should not be regarded as a stray one. Consumers need to stay alert for their own safety. Most microwavable foods still come in plastic packaging.

Most of these plastics contain plasticizers which are added to make these plastics soft and pliable. When you are microwaving the food, these plasticizers might begin to leach into your food, adding unwanted ingredients to your diet.

Microwave food cooked in plastics can cause hormone mimicking compounds to leach into your food. Once ingested, these compounds can disrupt the functioning of your endocrine system.

These chemicals may disrupt births and cause cancer and infertility.

In some of the high end plastic brands like Tupperware, there are no plasticizers which may leak into food upon microwaving. Therefore, Tupperware can safely be used for microwaving.

However, there are various other grades of plastics which do leach plasticizers and this has been proved by a lot of studies done on them.

The common plastic wraps that are used in homes, emit very low quantities of a plasticizer which are not considered a health hazard. However, commercial cling wraps do contain large quantities of these hazardous plasticizers which may eventually leach into your food.

While a lot of plastics can be scientifically tested to see whether they do leach out plasticizers and other hazardous materials or not, it is not possible to do the same with all plastic materials. Therefore, it is recommended that microwave cooking should be done exclusively in microwavable glass or ceramic dishes which come with lids. This way, you won’t have to take the risk of microwaving plastic and allowing hazardous materials to leach into your food.

Despite most scientific findings, the plastic industry claims that plastic utensils are safe for microwave cooking. However, since they have a vested interest in popularizing the use of plastics, it is not advisable to always agree with their claims. It is safer to make your own informed choice regarding this so that you can avoid unnecessary exposure to materials which may not be good for your health.