Polystyrene Food Containers

[Bazile]

Just eaten some food from a polystyrene container - you know the yellow colour type take away ones .

Just noticed that part of the container is sort of deformed , as if it had started to 'melt'

Is it likely that the food would have been contaminated by the container ?

If yes is it dangerous to your health ?

[Jahulaye]

“Warm ,balmy, summer's evening walking along with 3d chips and a piece of battered cod in a newspaper .No-one seemed to get 'bugs' or upset stomachs back then.”

Yes and we could work down mines, up chimneys and in asbestos covered environments, live in our homes painted with leaf based paints and take drugs prescribed drugs such as thalidomide and Primodos with a smile on our faces and not a care in the world...

Meanwhile many years later......

Just what chemicals were in newspaper ink again?

[Jahulaye]

Lead paint not leaf

[andres]

bhg481----6d got me into the Saturday matinee.

[Tilly2]

They were wrapped in white grease-proof paper and then wrapped in newspaper. The fish and chips were not put directly onto newspaper.

[Jahulaye]

Spath it can be a lot worse when people microwave those containers unaware of the invisible, toxic gases they give out.

[andres]

Jahulaye-- Children going up chimneys were a bit before my time . I was merely stating how things were back when I was young. Why are you always so aggressive . The thalidomide drug didn't come onto the market until, I think the 60s . By then chips had gone up in price!

[bhg481]

My wife and I, both in our early seventies, are quite convinced that we must be dead. There is no way we can still be alive after eating all those dangerous foods (sugar etc), playing dangerous games like conkers, riding bikes without helmets, driving cars without seat belts etc

[Jahulaye]

“They were wrapped in white grease-proof paper and then wrapped in newspaper.”

Ahh, I see.

That sounds a lot more safer but one presumes that If they ran out of the greaseproof paper then instead of halting business and profits as well as customers satisfaction that they would then keep serving in just newspapers which would seem logical.

[Kidas]

Here's the thing:
Polystyrene is different from styrene monomer.

Styrene monomer has all those bad things: carcinogenic etc.

Polystyrene is a long polymer made up of thousands of styrene monomer units chemically bonded together.

The chemical bonds are nearly as strong as the hydrogen-oxygen bonds in a water molecule.

No-one would suggest that imbibing water might cause you to spontaneously catch fire, because hydrogen is flammable.

In the same way, suggesting that large polystyrene polymer molecules have the same carcinogenic properties as styrene monomer is to misunderstand the nature of chemical bonds.

There are bad things about polystyrene, but those are mostly related to environmental damage,rather than health impacts.

People might possibly be confusing gases emitted by polyurethane ( completely different material) as there are no gases that I am aware of emitted by expanded polystyrene.

The 'expanded' bit means bubbles are blown into the material. That requires a blowing agent. Older types used propane as a blowing agent, but modern, food-use applications tend to use water/steam as a blowing agent.

Nothing to worry about.

[bhg481]

Incidentally, I suspect that more people are injured/killed crossing the road without looking because they are playing with their smart-phone than were ever killed by eating chips out of a newspaper.

[Mamyalynne]

I doubt you'll find anyone who encountered that situation - the number of outer layers was down to the distance you were walking home with your wrapped up supper and of course the prevailing weather conditions.

You often took in a basin to be kept warm until your turn then the mushy peas were ladled in with plenty of pea wet and again wrapped up.

Change was wrapped back up in the note you brought and popped in your pocket.

All wrapping went on the roaring fire as you tucked in (you'd been up and swept the chimney the day before).

[Jahulaye]

“Why are you always so aggressive”

I apologise that you feel that way as there isn’t an aggressive atom in my body and am sorry that you feel I come across in that fashion.

I like online debates and like like to address points with counterpoints especially when I’m not believing what I’m reading or have facts and knowledge to bring to the “debating table”

[Jahulaye]

Thanks for the informative post kidas, I’ll look into it later.

[Kidas]

Also, to be pernickety, Styrofoam is never used to make food products such as cups or burger containers.

Styrofoam is a trade name of Dow Chemical used for building insulation.

Just as the trade names Hoover and Biro have been devalued, Styrofoam is in the process of being devalued and becoming a generic term for expanded polystyrene.