Chemicals in our Fast Food?!

Chemicals known as ortho-phthalates, or more commonly known as phthalates, are types of chemicals used to make plastics, primarily in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or vinyl. The chemicals also serve other purposes, including as solvents for personal and cleaning products. Due to their ubiquity throughout consumer products, they can be found in food from the equipment during processing. While exposure can prove to be harmful to anybody, it is particularly harmful to pregnant women and young children. Birth defects and lowered intelligence are common to children born from mothers exposed to phthalates.

Recently, a Nature article analyzed the phthalate concentrations of popular fast-food items such as chicken nuggets, burritos, and hamburgers (1). It was found that the both phthalates and novel plasticizers to be abundant in fast food. The theorized source for where the majority of the phthalates come from is the gloves worn by those who handle the food. While some phthalates have been phased out in food prep use with other plasticizers, these too have been found in amounts on fast food.

If it is further confirmed phthalate or replacement plasticizers in the food handling gloves are the sources of food contamination, it may be prudent to limit consumption of fast food.

1. Edwards, L., McCray, N. L., VanNoy, B. N., Yau, A., Geller, R. J., Adamkiewicz, G., & Zota, A. R. (2021, October 27). Phthalate and novel plasticizer concentrations in food items from U.S. fast food chains: A preliminary analysis. Nature News. Retrieved October 28, 2021, from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41370-021-00392-8.