that Analysis released by Consumer Reports Thursdays from “forever chemicals” that have been found in some fast food wrappers from popular fast food chains.
PFAS has been classified as “forever chemicals” because the compounds are man-made chemicals that cannot break down in the environment.
The analysis showed that this class of chemicals was found in excessive quantities in the packaging of some products from Burger King, Chick-fil A, Stop & Shop, Sweet Green, Nathan Vamos, Kava & Arby’s.
Nathan’s Famous saw the highest PFAS indicators, 876ppm (parts per million) for one bag of sides and 816ppm for another bag of sides.
The report says Denmark allows a maximum of 20 parts per million for the chemical, and California is aiming for less than 100 parts per million by 2023.
“We know from our testing that it is possible for retailers to use packaging with very low levels of PFAS,” said Brian Runholm, director of food policy at CR. “So the good news is that there are steps companies can take now to reduce their use of these dangerous chemicals.”
Consumer Reports says they tested 118 food products with multiple samples from more than two dozen stores and fast food restaurants in Connecticut, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York and Texas.
The samples were collected between August and November last year, with the group saying their findings did not represent all products from the establishments and the companies could have changed their packaging by the time the report was released.
Other products that saw significant PFAS volumes included Arby’s cookie bag, kids’ Cava tray, and McDonald’s bag of French fries.
The chemical has been found to negatively affect a person’s immune system and disease response.
The group recommends avoiding places known to be high in PFAS in their packages, removing food from the package as quickly as possible and not heating food in its original package.
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