Biotechnological Mitigation of Phthalates in the Food Chain: Packaging Migration, Dietary Exposure, and Probiotic Detoxification
Background and aims: Phthalates are plasticizers produced in volumes so large that dietary exposure has become universal. Because they remain unbound within polymer networks, these compounds migrate into food during processing, storage, and distribution, with additional inputs entering crops and livestock through environmental contamination.
Materials and Methods: Following a structured search across four databases, this review synthesizes evidence on the routes of food contamination, analytical challenges, dietary intakes, toxicological endpoints, and emerging mitigation strategies.
Results and Conclusion: Occurrence data consistently show that lipid-rich items such as edible oils and dairy products accumulate the heaviest loads, though storage temperature and acidity can also drive measurable leaching into bottled water and soft drinks. Estimated intakes indicate that young children and high consumers of packaged foods absorb a noticeable share of established tolerable daily intakes, particularly when compounds are assessed as cumulative mixtures under European Food Safety Authority guidance. Given that current regulations and industrial substitutes like DINCH and DEHT leave historical residues in circulation, biological mitigation has emerged as a complementary safeguard. Food-grade lactic acid bacteria, notably strains of Lactobacillus and Lactiplantibacillus, can physically sequester phthalate diesters and reactive monoesters such as MEHP through peptidoglycan and exopolysaccharide surface binding, reducing free toxicant fractions in fermented matrices and accelerating fecal clearance in vivo. We conclude by outlining critical research priorities, including outdated occurrence surveys, single-compound regulatory baselines, and the need to validate microbial biosorption under commercial food-processing conditions.