Do you know what your children eat? Are you sure that what they put in their mouth will not harm their health?
Some foods can be very dangerous, filled with poisonous chemicals which put your child’s health at risk. These toxic substances can be found even in your child’s favorite meal. Exactly, not everything popular and tasty is healthy.
It is a fact that one of children’s favorite meal is macaroni and cheese. Shockingly, chemicals known as Phthalates were found right there.
Mainly used as plasticizers, phthalates are found everywhere: building materials, personal care products, fragrances, children’s backpack lunch boxes, toys.
How do they find their way to food? During preparation, processing, packaging.
Not only they are linked to asthma, autism and altered reproductive development, this chemical enemy number one is the main reason why some children have low IQ and male fertility issues.
Some researchers decided to take the job in their hands and find out whether a food contains phthalates. Being curious about the concentration of phthalates, they tested cheese products. Why? Simply because they saw these products as the greatest source for DEHP, the most restricted phthalate, dangerous for pregnant women and children.
This report on the concentration of phthalates in food was funded by 4 advocacy groups: Environmental Health Strategy Center, Ecology Center, Healthy Babies Bright Futures and the Safer States.
What did they find? They found dangerous chemicals in 29 out of 30 tested cheese products. Processed cheese powder in boxed macaroni and cheese meal, contained the highest concentration of chemicals. Moreover, 9 of these products were made by Kraft Heinz Company.
High level of concentrations of the most restricted dangerous phthalate called DEHP, was found among all the cheese products.
Mike Belliveau, the Executive director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center, said: “The phthalate concentrations in powder from mac & cheese mixes were more than four times higher than in block cheese and other natural cheeses like shredded cheese, string cheese, and cottage cheese.” In other words, processed food has much more phthalates than the natural one.
Do you know how many boxes of dry mix mac & cheese were sold in the U.S. in 2012? About 710 million. Pretty much a jaw-dropping fact!
They also warned that no matter we tend to use organic foods, these toxic chemicals can’t be avoided even there.
Even though a 2014 report to the Consumer Product Safety Commission made a wakeup call that phthalates are mainly found in food, drugs, beverages, a petition with a goal to remove all phthalates from food was delayed.
A matter of a great concern, isn’t it? The whole world should ask themselves: What are we doing to children?
All in all: avoid canned food and beverages as much as possible, use glass for storage, and if you microwave food, don’t do it in plastic.
Make sure your child eats fresh fruits and vegetables. Keep your child healthy and happy.
Source: https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/CHAP-REPORT-With-Appendices.pdf
Sandy White is a creative writer with a vivid imagination. The power of curiosity leads her to explore people’s inner world which is portrayed in her articles.