Plastic chemicals 'widespread' in packaged products like Cheerios: report

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by Lisa Fickenscher

Potentially dangerous levels of plastic chemicals have become “widespread” in popular grocery products including Cheerios, Coca-Cola and Gerber cereals, according to a recent report. a report.

Consumer Reports, a nonprofit advocacy group, tested 85 food items sold in supermarkets and fast food chains — and found some level of plastic chemicals in 84 of them.

The report said chemicals called “plasticizers” or phthalates seep mainly through packaging materials and can cause cancer, infertility, birth defects, obesity and other major health problems.

The group is calling on the feds to ban the use of phthalates.

The products with the highest levels of plastic are Yoplait Original Low Fat French Vanilla; vanilla ice cream from Ben & Jerry's; Wendy's Crispy Chicken Nuggets; Burger King Whopper; General Mills Original Cheerios; Ground chicken breast and sliced ​​Del Monte peaches, according to the report.

None of the levels exceeded US limits that regulators consider unsafe, but scientists say any level of plastics in food could be dangerous, according to the report.

Previous efforts to reduce consumers' exposure to plastics “have focused on packaging,” according to the publication. “But it is now clear that phthalates in particular can enter from plastic in pipes, conveyor belts and gloves used during food processing, and can enter directly into meat and produce via contaminated water and soil.”

The chemicals can also contaminate food through lined metal cans and plastic wrap, according to the report.

Consumer Reports noted that some packaged products have very low levels of plastic pollution compared to their competitors. For example, Pizza Hut's original pizza had half the amount of plastic as a Domino's cheese pizza.

Bags of beech wood fruit, pears, bananas and berries also contain half the amount of plastic as Gerber's Baby Harvest Turkey Dinner.

Meanwhile, the carbonated water at Polar Springs was found to contain no contaminants.

“This tells us that despite the prevalence of these chemicals, there are ways to reduce the amount in our foods,” said James Rogers, who oversees product safety testing at CR.