The widespread use of plastic food packaging is relatively new.
By relatively new I mean within my lifetime.
There were not "innumerable" deaths in the US due to "improper food packaging" leading to sickness and death in my youth.
The only plastic products I recall from my youth were plastic bread bags for sliced bread, and plastic milk bottles. Everything else was glass, metal, or paper. I am pretty sure I did not see or touch a plastic soft drink bottle until my teens. If you wanted a lot of soda you got "The Boss" from Pepsi, which was a half gallon glass bottle.
By relatively new I mean within my lifetime.
There were not "innumerable" deaths in the US due to "improper food packaging" leading to sickness and death in my youth.
The only plastic products I recall from my youth were plastic bread bags for sliced bread, and plastic milk bottles. Everything else was glass, metal, or paper. I am pretty sure I did not see or touch a plastic soft drink bottle until my teens. If you wanted a lot of soda you got "The Boss" from Pepsi, which was a half gallon glass bottle.