The Great Simplification #104 – Jane Muncke: “Perils of Plastic Packaging”

In this episode, toxicology scientist Dr. Jane Muncke joins Nate to discuss the current state of food production and the effects of ultra-processed foods and their packaging on our health. Over the last century, processed food has taken over our supermarkets and our diets, and at the same time, the containers they’re sold in have evolved as well – to be more eye-catching and keep food ‘good’ for longer. But what have we sacrificed in exchange for efficiency, ease, and convenience? How do the chemicals used in packaging and processing transfer into the food we eat and end up in our bodies? Will switching away from these toxic food practices require more local food supply chains – and correspondingly simpler diets and lifestyles?

About Jane Muncke

Jane Muncke holds a doctorate in environmental toxicology and an MSc in environmental science from ETH Zurich. Since 2012 she has been working as Managing Director and Chief Scientific Officer at the charitable Food Packaging Forum Foundation (FPF) in Zurich, Switzerland. FPF is a research and science communication organization focusing on chemicals in all food contact materials. She is a full scientific member of the Society of Toxicology (SOT), the Society for Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology (SETAC), the American Chemical Society (ACS), and the Endocrine Society. Since 2019, she has been an elected expert member of the Swiss Organic Farming Association Bio Suisse’s committee on trade and processing. She contributes to further developing the standards for the processing and packaging of organic food. She is a director of the FAN initiative, a collective of experts warning about resource overshoot, the polycrisis, and related societal collapse.

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