Kids love it and it’s been around for years. But, if you or your family enjoy a nice easy dinner of boxed macaroni and cheese with powdered cheese sauce — you might want to find another dinner option. Research has found that the powdered cheese contains high concentrations of dangerous chemicals.
A group called The Coalition for Safer Food Processing and Packaging started a movement and website called KleanUpKraft.org. They tested 30 cheese products for a group of plastic chemicals called phthalates. Phthalates are used to make plastic more flexible.
It was found that the chemical levels were 4 times higher in macaroni and cheese powder than any other cheese product.
This study has not been published in a peer-review journal and was funded by environmental advocacy groups. It’s no wonder that Kraft is denying their use of such dangerous chemicals in their macaroni and cheese.
“We do not add phthalates to our products,” Kraft spokesperson Lynne Galia said in an emailed statement. “The trace amounts that were reported in this limited study are more than 1,000 times lower than levels that scientific authorities have identified as acceptable.”
Regardless of Kraft’s statement — The Coalition for Safer Food Processing and Packaging stands by their study.
You might be asking yourself; “why did they decide on testing cheese products for this study?” and the coalition stated:
“…dairy products were the greatest source of dietary exposure to the phthalate DEHP for infants and women of reproductive age. Therefore, cheese products were chosen as the first in a series of dairy products and other foods to test for phthalates.”
The tests that were conducted identified ten different phthalates in the 30 cheese products; sometimes 6 were in one product alone.
Are phthalates in your household?
Phthalates are commonly found in household items such as soap, detergents, and hairsprays but they are never supposed to be in food or ingested in any way. However, somehow, people are ingesting this dangerous group of chemicals.
The CDC reported that phthalate exposure is widespread; particularly in women who use a lot of body washes and cosmetics. The coalition says that these chemicals pose a serious risk to pregnant women and children.
With approximately 710 million boxes of dry mix macaroni and cheese sold in the United States in one year alone — Americans might want to opt for a more natural option going forward.
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