New Research Finds Industrial Chemicals In Our Favorite Fast Foods

Fast food is worse than we thought: new research finds its full of toxic chemicals. In the first paper known to measure levels of DEHT in fast food, researchers have identified concerning levels of several problematic chemicals in cheeseburgers, burritos, and other favorites. 

The problem is ortho-phthalates, which are commonly used in food packaging and easily end up in our food for consumption. And that’s a big problem because these chemicals are linked to a host of health concerns including endocrine disruption, metabolic and reproductive effects across genders and age groups, and even attention problems in kids. The US and Europe have spent 20 years restricting chemicals with known negative health effects. So industry has responded by substituting the banned chemicals with “replacement plasticizers.”

“Recently, Project TENDR (Targeting Environmental Neurodevelopmental Risks), which consists of a group of scientists and health professionals with expertize in toxic chemicals and neurotoxicity, concluded that there is substantial evidence linking phthalate exposures to increased risks for children’s learning, attention, and behavioral problems,” write the study authors. In other words, the replacements plasticizers are compounds of concern too.

Burritos are full of chemicals

In this study the researchers wanted to measure these replacement plasticizers in food, and the news is not good. Previous research and already found that 98% of US humans show biomarkers of phthalates. Dietary sources are already established as our main of phthalates. And the study found that samples of hamburgers, chicken nuggets, fries, chicken burritos, and cheese pizzas were all contaminated with the chemicals. Meat products were higher in the chemicals than non-meat foods.

For instance, burritos had the highest chemical concentration of DEHT, hamburgers were high in DINCH, and both were high in DEHP and DiNP. If that doesn’t mean anything to you, consider that these are abbreviations for chemicals that are definitely not an apple a day.

The researchers also found that two of the chemicals might have been getting into the food from the gloves food handlers use to prepare it.

Public health and safe food

Not only is this a public health issue, this is also an equity issue. Since racial minorities are more likely to live in food deserts where high-quality food is hard to get and fast food is often the only viable option, this means they are getting substantially more concerning chemical exposures through fast food. 

And what about our kids? Accumulating chemicals like this over a lifetime can have an even bigger negative impact on health. Practically speaking, the next time your kids want to stop for fast food chicken nuggets because they’re a treat... maybe don’t stop.

Many parents view fast food as a “treat” for their kids. They know it’s not healthy, but they generally view it as harmless if you only have it once in a while. Maybe parents need to start thinking in terms of am “I going to feed my child this food product which is contaminated to varying degrees by ortho-phthalates and plasticizers.” Somehow that becomes a different discussion. 

So for those who have the privilege of choice about where they get their food, it’s worth considering industrial chemicals as part of your nutritional assessment when it comes to what you feed yourself and your kids.

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