Toxic chemicals found in many chain-restaurant food wraps
Turns out that what’s in that fast-food burger or bakery Danish might not be the worst thing you have to worry about!
Unbelievably, it’s what a lot of these foods are wrapped in — a type of grease-resistant coated paper — that might be even more hazardous to your health.
That’s because these wrappings may contain chemicals that have been linked to health problems that include kidney and testicular cancers, thyroid disease, low birth weight and damage to children’s immune systems.
You might remember warnings in the news several years ago about microwave popcorn being a cancer risk because their bags are coated with similar chemicals.
But seriously, popcorn is just the beginning of the problem.
Here again is yet another serious issue that our regulatory watchdogs have mostly allowed to slip through the cracks. And, in this case, that’s after pretending to have solved the problem!
This chemical danger might have never come to light if it hadn’t been for a big lawsuit filed against DuPont 16 years ago, for contaminating drinking water with PFOAs, the chemical it once used to make Teflon.
Not only was PFOA found to cause problems such as thyroid disease, colitis and cancer, but court documents showed DuPont knew it was a major health hazard — for decades!
DuPont stopped using PFOAs two years ago and ended up being fined $16.5 million by the EPA. But it’s obvious that even though regulators somehow believe they’ve solved the problem, that’s not the case.
Another dangerous chemical — and a kissing cousin to PFOAs, called PFCs — is still being used, despite its dangers.
Fighting fires is one of its uses… and resisting grease is another.
The FDA now approves at least 20 different PFCs for use on food contact paper. In fact, Notre Dame researchers found that the food industry appears to be a hotbed of PFCs!
They looked at 400 samples of food wrappers — including pastry bags, sandwich wrappers and containers for greasy foods like French fries — from 27 different chains across the U.S. And they discovered almost 60 percent of bread and pastry wrappings, close to 40 percent of burger or sandwich bags, and 20 percent of what’s called “paperboard” wrapping contain fluorinated compounds (the PFC “marker” the researchers tested for).
What makes that especially scary is that according to a study done by the FDA several years ago, these paper additives “migrate to food during actual package use,” something that’s actually enhanced by the presence of oil and grease.
And the problem is: Once PFCs get in your system, they’re not leaving anytime soon.
Graham Peaslee, a professor at the College of Science at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana who led the new study on the compound’s use in food wrappers, calls these chemicals “really persistent.”
Not only does this type of chemical NOT break down in the environment, he said, but “it gets in the bloodstream,” where it stays and accumulates.
The researchers also found these toxic wrappings being used even by restaurants that pride themselves on healthier ingredients! For example:
- Chipotle — of 17 wrappers analyzed, 65 percent tested positive.
- Panera — of 23 different food contact papers tested, 43 percent contained the chemical.
- Starbucks — the researchers tested 21 food wraps, finding 76 percent tested positive.
Scores of other chains such as McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Subway and Taco Bell also landed on the PFC warning list.
Even though it may sound impossible to steer clear of these compounds altogether, it’s still important to lower your exposure as much as possible. For example, make it a point to “eat in,” instead of getting food to go.
Or, in the case of burger joints, why not skip them entirely? (It might benefit your health in other ways, too!)
Because the more you’re exposed to these toxic chemicals, the higher this hidden risk can be to your health.
“Extensive use of fluorinated chemicals in fast food wrappers: Chemicals can leach into foods” University of Notre Dame, February 1, 2017, ScienceDaily, sciencedaily.com
