Yves here. Surprise! Junk food is really dangerous!
Note, this study focuses on additives, such as coloring agents. The industry’s objection was that the analysis looked at lifetime use at a chronic level and was therefore not representative of typical use. However, due to cost and complexity, these studies examine individual chemical inputs. It’s not hard to imagine that eating more than one food often poses health risks.
By Julie Zenderoudi, an intern at The New Lede who previously worked for Canadian broadcaster CBC News, producing nationally broadcast interview segments and explainer videos whose articles have appeared in Slate, Offrange, Prism, The Brooklyn Paper, and elsewhere. First published in New Lede
Some of the snacks arriving in America’s pantries contain “concerning levels of additives,” according to new findings by Consumer Reports and food scanning app Yuka.
Researchers tested 40 popular grocery products, from baked goods to ice cream and potato chips, to measure the concentration of eight additives and two contaminants and compared them with safety limits for daily consumption set by health officials in Europe and California.
None of the products tested exceeded current guidelines set by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which generally allow substances at levels “much higher than what other public health authorities consider safe,” according to Consumer Reports.
Of the 13 products tested for Red Dye No. 40, a food color made from petroleum, five contained enough in one serving to exceed the daily safety level for children identified by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA).
Considered more rigorous than the FDA when it comes to assessing the risks of food dyes and additives, a 2021 OEHHA study found that artificial food dyes are associated with “adverse neurobehavioral effects” in some children.
Researchers cited several products that exceeded safety limits by large margins, including Hostess’ Donettes Mini Powdered Donuts, which were found to contain 19 times the amount of glycidol considered safe for daily use according to California health officials. A serving of Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies contains more than nine times the safety limit of the same chemical, according to the results.
Hostess’ Donettes Mini Powdered Donuts also contain 261 milligrams of titanium dioxide in a single serving.
Titanium dioxide has been banned as a food additive in the European Union by 2022, due to possible “DNA or chromosomal damage”
“The levels reported for Hostess’ Donettes are very concerning given the way this product is widely used in the United States, especially among children,” the report said.
JM Smucker Co., which makes Hostess products, did not respond to a request for comment on the findings. McKee Foods Corporation, which makes Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies, declined to comment.
“Right Point”
The findings drew some criticism because the analysis was based on daily use over a lifetime.
“That was probably my biggest criticism of their experiment,” said Eric Decker, a professor of food science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Estimating “a lifetime of chronic exposure,” can lead to overestimation, Decker explained, noting that some of the foods highlighted in the study could be considered “celebration” foods that shouldn’t be eaten all the time.
“That’s a fair point,” said Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports. He added that although people may not eat certain products that are tested daily, they may get Red Dye No. 40 and titanium dioxide in other foods in their diet.
“These types of chemicals, additives, and artificial food dyes are all over our food,” says Ronholm. “When you use these artificial food dyes, these chemicals and additives consistently in various products, that increases the risk of harm to public health down the road.”
According to the report, the findings underscore the shortcomings of the current regulatory framework governing food additives in the US.
Decker agreed that the FDA could do more in terms of safety testing, noting that the agency is severely understaffed.
“The Trump administration on the other hand is saying this is bad for you, and we should reevaluate this, but at the same time they’re cutting positions at the FDA all the time,” Decker noted.
Global Push
The report comes amid a nationwide campaign against food additives from the organization “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA), which opposes highly processed foods, artificial dyes, and other chemicals in food as dangerous to human health.
Last year, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services in the United States, Robert F. Kennedy and the FDA announced plans to eliminate petroleum-based food dyes. At the time, former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said, “For the past 50 years, we have been conducting one of the largest uncontrolled scientific experiments in the world on our nation’s children, without their consent.”
In 2025, West Virginia’s banned a group of red, yellow, blue and green dyes from January 1, 2028. And California last year passed a law to eliminate certain highly processed foods from school meals.
“Now we are in a period where we have discussions where before we didn’t have them,” said Ronholm.
