The pastry you're thinking about buying may contain the preservative propyl paraben, linked to disruptions in hormone signaling.
According to ingredient data obtained by EWG's Food Scores: Rate Your Plate, an online database and app that helps consumers eat healthier, propyl paraben is in 49 widely-available processed foods, including Sara Lee cinnamon rolls, Weight Watchers cakes and La Banderita Corn Tortillas.
Last year, EWG turned the spotlight on propyl paraben in its Dirty Dozen Guide To Food Additives because the federal Food and Drug Administration has listed its use in food as “Generally Recognized As Safe.” Despite mounting evidence that propyl paraben disrupts the endocrine system, the FDA has failed to take action to eliminate its use in food or reassess its safety.
TAKE ACTION
Consumers can't wait on the FDA - endocrine disruptors shouldn't be in the food we eat. Click here today to add your name to EWG’s petition and demand that food companies remove propyl paraben from their products.
In 2002 researchers at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Public Health discovered that propyl paraben decreased sperm counts in young rats at and below the concentrations which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers safe for human consumption in food (Oishi 2002; 21CFR184.1670).
Other researchers have confirmed propyl paraben's effects on the endocrine system. It acts as a synthetic estrogenic compound and can alter hormone signaling and gene expression (Routledge 1998; Terasaka 2006; Vo 2011; Wróbel 2014). A recent study by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health suggested that exposure to propyl paraben might be associated with diminished fertility (Smith 2013).
Proper endocrine signaling is particularly important during critical windows of development—while in the womb and during childhood and adolescence. Chemicals that disrupt hormone signaling can lead to adverse effects on development, reproduction, and the neurological and immune systems.
Citing the study by the researchers in Tokyo, the European Food Safety Authority issued an advisory in 2004 that the presumed safe exposure level for propyl paraben in food was no longer valid because it affected sex hormones and the male reproductive organs in young rats (EFSA 2004). Based on that advice, in 2006, regulators removed propyl paraben from the list of food additives authorized for use in the European Union.
Propyl paraben is starting to disappear from some cosmetics, so it is a wonder that it is still allowed in food. If you browse the personal care product aisles in any drug store, you are likely to see labels advertising that certain body washes, lotions, and other items are “paraben free.” Under pressure from EWG and other health advocates, in August 2012 Johnson & Johnson voluntarily pledged to remove this and other members of the paraben family from all its baby products. Brands such as Alba, Origins and Burt’s Bees don’t use parabens at all.
Yet Americans are still widely exposed to this chemical. In 2010 research led by Antonia Calafat, Ph.D., a respected chemist at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reported that 92.7 percent of Americans tested had propyl paraben in their urine (Calafat 2010).
How Can You Avoid It?
In food: Check the list and use EWG's Food Scores database to find foods without propyl paraben.
In cosmetics: Use EWG's Skin Deep database to find products without this preservative.
Take Action
Cosmetics companies are taking the hint and have started removing propyl paraben from some of their products. So why are food companies still putting this known endocrine disruptor in the foods we eat?! Click here today to add your name to EWG’s petition and demand that food companies remove propyl paraben from their products.
FOODS THAT CONTAIN PROPYL PARABEN:
- Amport Foods Chocolate & Nut Trail Mix
- Archer Farms Gourmet Dessert Cookies
- Arizona Snack Company Canyon Runner II Trail
- Arizona Snack Company Sweet Energy Trail
- Cafe Valley Apple Spice Mini Muffins Apple Spice
- Cafe Valley Banana Nut Mini Muffins
- Cafe Valley Blueberry Mini Muffins
- Cafe Valley Cake Pumpkin Cream Cheese
- Cafe Valley Chocolate Chips Mini Muffins
- Cafe Valley Corn Mini Muffins
- Cafe Valley Lemon Poppyseed Mini Muffins
- Cafe Valley Orange Cranberry Mini Muffins
- Cafe Valley Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins
- Creative Occasions Old Fashioned Carrot Cream Cheese Cake
- Elizabeth’s Naturals Psychedelic Sunday Mix
- Emerald Breakfast On The Go Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Nut & Granola Mix
- Energy Club Fancy Mojo Mix
- Energy Club Nuts N Chocolate Blend
- Entenmann’s Coconut Crunch Donuts
- Essential Everyday Classic Trail Mix
- Island Snacks Fancy Chocolate Mix
- La Banderita White Corn Tortillas
- La Banderita Yellow Corn Tortillas
- Little Debbie Pecan Spinwheels
- Newton's Naturals Get The Munchies Trail Mix
- Nuevo Leon Tortillas
- Oh Yeah! Candies Chocolate Caramel
- Ole Mexican Foods Corn Tortillas
- Patissa Pumpkin Pie Cream Puffs
- Premium Orchard Rainbow Trail Mix
- Private Selection Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
- Quality Club Deluxe Moxxi Mix
- Roundy’s Cranberry Trail Mix
- Roundy’s Pak O Snax
- Sara Lee Cinnamon Rolls
- Sara Lee Honey Glazed Buns
- Setton Farms Hiker’s Trail Mix
- Superior Chocolate Nut Trail Mix
- Superior Mini Chocolate Eclairs
- Sweet P’s Bake Shop Black & White Cookies
- Tropical Corn Tortillas, Traditional Style
- Turano Brat & Sausage Rolls
- Weight Watchers Carrot Crème Cake
- Weight Watchers Chocolate Crème Cake
- Weight Watchers Golden Sponge Cake
- Weight Watchers Lemon Creme Cake
- Weight Watchers Red Velvet Creme Cake
- Weis Cross’n Country
- Weis Milk Chocolate Candies
About EWG's Food Scores
EWG's Food Scores: Rate Your Plate is an easy-to-use food database and mobile app that will house ratings and a vast array of other information for more than 82,000 foods from about 1,500 brands in a simple, searchable, online format. The new tool is the most comprehensive food-rating database available to consumers. Its scoring system factors in not only nutrition, but also ingredients of concern, such as food additives, and contaminants. It also estimates the degree to which foods have been processed.
EWG's Food Scores aims to guide people to greener, healthier, and cleaner food choices. Users can find an overall score, from 1 (best) to 10 (worst), for every product in the food database. EWG's product profiles include highly detailed information on how each food stacks up in terms of nutritional content and whether they contain questionable additives, such as nitrites or potassium bromate, or harmful contaminants, such as arsenic and mercury, and which foods have the lowest and highest processing concerns. They also identify meat and dairy products that are likely produced with antibiotics and hormones and highlight the fruits and vegetables that are likely to be contaminated with pesticide residues.
EWG's Food Scores is built on data gathered by LabelINSIGHT®, an independent product label database and analysis platform, which provides details on packaged foods that carry a barcode.
EWG's Food Scores is available as a free mobile app for iPhone and Android users. With the app, consumers are able to scan barcodes of products with their smartphones to get rating information while they are grocery shopping. They are able to compare a product's score to that of similar products, right at their fingertips, and find comparable products with better scores.
