Nutrition Dangerous chemicals found in 80% of McDonald’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut and Domino’s meals

[Maciamo]

This is the conclusion of an American study published in October 2021. I am not surprised. That's not really news. I read before about the plastics McDonald's or KFC put in their nuggets for a Subway's in their sandwiches to "add cohesion" to the ingredients.

That's why I almost never eat in fast food chains. This was already well known in the 1990s which is why I categorically refused to eat at McDonald's or other American fast food chains when I was a teenager. I had my first McDonald burger when I was 21 and it was when I was travelling in the Philippines because the local food sucked. I've had a few meals at McDonald's, Burger King or KFC in different countries over the last 20 years, but often ended up feeling bad afterwards (stomach ache or feeling heavy). My body just isn't used to junk food. Anyway I never miss the taste, which I consider to be subpar food. I decided a few years ago never to set foot in one of these chains again.

As for Pizza Hut and Domino's pizza, I tried each of them once and found them so disgusting compared to real Italian pizza that I couldn't even finish one piece and had to throw the rest away (something I never do usually as I am very conscientious about food waste, so it made me doubly feel bad). I frankly can't understand how anybody can eat that.

Here is the abstract.

Abstract​

Background​

Fast food consumption is associated with biomarkers of ortho-phthalates exposures. However, the chemical content of fast food is unknown; certain ortho-phthalates (i.e., di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP) and di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP)) have been phased out and replaced with other plasticizers (e.g., dioctyl terephthalate (DEHT)).

Objective​

We conducted a preliminary study to examine ortho-phthalate and replacement plasticizer concentrations in foods and food handling gloves from U.S. fast food restaurants.

Methods​

We obtained hamburgers, fries, chicken nuggets, chicken burritos, cheese pizza (n = 64 food samples) and gloves (n = 3) from restaurants and analyzed them for 11 chemicals using gas chromatography mass spectrometry.

Results​

We found DEHT at the highest concentrations in both foods (n = 19; median = 2510 µg/kg; max = 12,400 µg/kg) and gloves (n = 3; range: 28–37% by weight). We detected DnBP and DEHP in 81% and 70% of food samples, respectively. Median DEHT concentrations were significantly higher in burritos than hamburgers (6000 µg/kg vs. 2200 µg/kg; p < 0.0001); DEHT was not detected in fries. Cheese pizza had the lowest levels of most chemicals.

Significance​

To our knowledge, these are the first measurements of DEHT in food. Our preliminary findings suggest that ortho-phthalates remain ubiquitous and replacement plasticizers may be abundant in fast food meals.