PoLySafe

The EGAliM law adopted in France in November 2018 prohibits the use of plastic containers in collective catering for children as of 2025. The classical use of stainless steel and glass containers is questioned for logistical reasons. As a result, many municipalities have shifted their choices towards more lightweight, disposable, cellulose-based bioplastic containers. While migration standards exist to verify the conformity of the quantity of polymer composing the food containers and migrating to its contents, there is no standard requiring the evaluation of the biological effects of the molecules composing the trays. This is especially true for compounds newly formed during food-heating processes. Their biological effects, including hormone disruption, have occasionally been evaluated using cellular models, but only for their estrogen-mimetic properties, and only from dissolved tray fragments. Moreover, this issue has never been addressed in vivo, nor for other potential impact points of endocrine disruptors. PoLySafe will address the question of the supposed inertia of alternative food containers by implementing a global, applied and innovative strategy to guide the best future choices. To do so, food containers made of polypropylene, cellulose, stainless steel and glass will be placed in the presence of two types of simulants (acid / lipid) with a determined time and contact time and at a temperature representative of the actual conditions of use. We will evaluate the impact of extracts of migration products on the activity of human nuclear receptors, on hepatic metabolism (human model; global metabolomic analysis approach and bioinformatics modeling: systems biology) as well as on the perturbation of the estrogenic, androgenic and thyroid axes, using models compatible with the 3R rules (Reduce, Replace, Refine). This transdisciplinary project has the particularity of bringing together five French partners with complementary expertise, specialists in the field of endocrine and metabolic disruptors. LNE (P2) will produce the extracts and identify the molecules likely to migrate to the food. INSERM (P4) will use in vitro models to assess the transcriptional effects of these extracts. INRAE (P3) will study the metabolic effects using the HepaRG cell line in vitro, identified as an excellent human model for toxicological studies (Tox21 USA, OECD, EU H2020 Goliath). Finally, the CNRS (P1) and the WatchFrog (P5) laboratory will use tests on aquatic larvae, validated or in the process of being validated by the OECD. Thus, PoLySafe will provide the essential information required by regulators in a single project. PoLySafe's objective is to generate in a pragmatic and impartial manner the factual elements for decision-making on an urgent and essential public health issue (biological activity of food containers and data on their impact on four major endocrine axes). In PoLySafe, the identification of migrant chemicals, their fractionation and the refinement of active substances are independent of the work on the activity of extracts. The complementarity of the PoLySafe partners minimizes risk of failure, and allows the development of novel strategies for testing newly formulated food containers. The results of this project are intended to contribute to the emergence of optimized pre-marketing standards and norms. We also anticipate a strong media impact of the results generated during the project, thus answering legitimate questions from the public.