Chemicals that Come into Contact with Food — Not Just Ingredients — May Harm Our Health

Synthetic substances can also sneak into food via transport, packaging, and preparation — here's what you can do for your health.

By Paul Smaglik
May 16, 2025 9:30 PMMay 16, 2025 9:27 PM
Ultra processed foods
(Image Credit: beauty-box/Shutterstock)

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We consume far too many chemicals in ultra-processed food than is good for our health, according to a review article in Nature Medicine. We are unaware of many of these chemicals because they can get into food not just as ingredients, but through packaging, processing, and transporting it.

The data the authors reviewed estimated that about 58 percent of all food consumed in the U.S. is ultra-processed.

“That’s a lot of unhealthy food,” says Jane Muncke, a scientist with the Food Packaging Forum Foundation in Zurich and an author of the paper.

Chemicals in Ultra-Processed Foods

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