I was under the impression that all heated plastic releases cancer causing carcinogens, so why are companies able to sell products who’s instructed cooking method is harmful to people’s health?
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Meat releases cancer-causing carcinogens when it is heated. If you’ve eaten bacon or a steak, you ate cancer-causing carcinogens.
It turns out that if those plastic carcinogens are in a small enough amount, the government/inspectors sigh and say the dinner is no less harmful than if you grilled some meat and ate it, and that calling it dangerous would be ridiculous.
So as long as the plastics used emit “safe” amounts of carcinogens, they are allowed. Not all plastics behave the same way in microwaves. It’s also notable that the amount they release gets worse *the more you use them*, but most of these microwavable dinner trays are not intended to be reused.
Some people still don’t trust that, but unless you’re eating a very careful diet lots of normally-cooked foods contain just about as many carcinogens as a microwaved dinner might. You should be more worried about the sodium, excess calories, excess carbohydrates, and the possibility of trans fat.
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