>I appreciate a good whataboutism as the next guy

I fail to see how that's whataboutism. I'm not trying to justify one form of plastic packaging with another. I'm merely questioning how much stuff actually leeches out and how it compares to how much leeches out during normal consumption.

>plastic packaging is not used for longevity or higiene but to protect the product from mechanical actions and to prebundle items. The whole point of using paper-based packaging [...]

I'm not sure about you, but buying pre-packaged fruits from opaque bags does not sound very appealing to me.