Yay, the holidays are coming! Know what that means? It means about two months of deliciousness is heading our way! We all have our favorite forbidden foods that seem to pop out of nowhere this time of year, from snacks and appetizers to mashed potatoes, gravy, and stuffing, to finally, pie after pie after pie! Yum!
But there is something yucky to watch out for underneath all that deliciousness. It’s a toxin that’s not only found in holiday treats but in personal care products, too.
Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) is sometimes used by manufacturers to give personal care products a longer shelf life. It’s commonly found in products that contain oils, like lipsticks and moisturizers.
A synthetic antioxidant, BHT has been banned from use in food by many countries around the world due to its cancer-causing properties and being connected to liver and kidney damage, but not the United States. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of BHT in food and other products via a regulatory loophole, categorizing it as “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS).
Since the 1940s, BHT has been used in preservative systems for fatty foods like baked goods, canned foods, chips and other fried or roasted snacks, instant noodles, and more. BHT can help keep the oils and fats in those foods from going rancid.
The good news is that you can avoid BHT during the holidays and every day by making these simple swaps:
- Instead of a store-bought snack mix or potato chips, choose fresh vegetables.
- Instead of boxed instant mashed potatoes, mash your own.
- Instead of a quick stuffing mix, create your own.
- Instead of pre-made pie shells, make your pies with homemade crusts.
- Instead of harmful makeup and moisturizers, shop Pure Haven non toxic for all your personal care products.
You’ll never find BHT in a Pure Haven product, ever. It’s not on our labels, it’s on our strict ingredients to avoid list. When you do pick something up from your local box store, whether for personal care or food products, be sure to read the labels. Consult our ingredients to avoid list so you know what to watch out for.
Sources:
Keeping harmful food additives off your Thanksgiving table | Environmental Working Group (ewg.org). (19 November 2021).
The Top 8 Foods You Didn’t Know Contain Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) – The Food Untold.