Mac and cheese products putting kids at risk

These ‘indirect additives’ pose a direct risk to our health

For kids everywhere, and even a lot of us adults, this new finding about one of our favorite comfort foods is downright catastrophic!

You may have seen the news reports last week about packaged mac and cheese products turning up with high levels of phthalates — nasty chemicals that disrupt hormones.

They’re especially dangerous for unborn babies and young kids but, believe it or not, the problem is much bigger than that.

Actually, macaroni and cheese turns out to be just the tip of the iceberg.

Banned… but not
In a perfect example of how our so-called safety watchdogs can’t get their act together, phthalates (pronounced with a silent “ph”) were, for the most part, banned for use in toys — such as teething rings — by an act of Congress over eight years ago.

The FDA, on the other hand, has no problem allowing them to end up in our foods, even ones like mac and cheese that are consumed by tots all the time! They even have a name for it — an “indirect” food additive (more on that in a minute).

So, while phthalates have been determined (for good reason) to be too dangerous for a rubber ducky to contain, they’re just ducky to be in a kid’s lunch or dinner. It’s absolute insanity!

For this new study, released by the Coalition for Safer Food Processing, the group sent out 30 samples of cheese (some processed, some “blocks”) to a lab for testing.

And what came back was disturbing, to say the least.

All but one sample tested positive for phthalates, but the worst of the group were the easy-to-make boxed mac and cheese products, nine of which came from Kraft. The levels of the chemical were four times higher in those powdered cheese “pouches” that you sprinkle on the macaroni than they were in the hard cheese they tested.

But cheesy dishes are far from the only foods that phthalates are ending up in. While they’re most likely to be found in fatty items, the fact is, they can be in just about anything. Last year, researchers found levels of the chemical in take-out pizza and fast food.

Phthalates are not deliberately added, but they seep into a product when it comes into contact with processing equipment or packaging — especially plastic — that contains the chemical. That’s why the FDA calls them “indirect food additives” (meaning they weren’t intentionally added).

And since the feds know full well that phthalates easily migrate into our food, the FDA has lots of so-called regulations about it. But if there ever was a case of bureaucratic babble signifying nothing, this is it. Because these rules really don’t say very much — except that it’s okay to use them!

I know, we hear warnings all the time about dangerous chemicals in our air, water, and food. But this is really scary — and for a number of reasons.

First, of course, these chemicals pose a very big danger to children. They can disrupt hormones and are believed to cause genital defects in boys, as well as other birth defects. Plus that, they have been linked to ADHD and can even cause brain damage.

But kids aren’t the only ones at risk.

Phthalates have also been linked to asthma, a lowering of immune function, breast cancer, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and fertility problems.

While the FDA may continue to turn a blind eye to these dangers, there are still some steps we can take that will substantially lower our exposure, and that of our loved ones.

#1: Try to replace as many processed foods as possible with meals that you whip up in your own kitchen. You’re better off shredding your own cheese and mixing it with freshly-boiled macaroni than using any pre-shredded cheeses or cheese “powders.”

#2: Whenever possible, buy foods packaged in glass rather than plastic.

#3: Since the chemical leaches out from food packaging over time, if you do purchase something in a plastic container, remove it and store it in your own glass one.

Trying to totally eliminate phthalates from our lives is probably akin to sweeping the beach. But we still need to do whatever we can to keep our kids and grandkids from ingesting them — as well as ourselves.

“Phthalates found in powdered mac-and-cheese mixes” Roni Caryn Rabin, July 13, 2017, The Seattle Times, seattletimes.com