New warning: Why you should never buy peanut butter in plastic ‘jars’
'Among the most toxic foods out there'
- by
Amy Sinclair
A leading expert has warned shoppers against buying peanut butter in plastic ‘jars’, claiming it’s ‘among the most toxic foods out there.’
Tamara Rubin is a leading child health advocate who’s well-known for her work in testing a range of consumer goods for poisons including lead and arsenic.
The mum-of-four has won many awards for her lead-poisoning prevention advocacy work - and her shock investigation into the disturbing levels of lead and arsenic in vintage Tupperware has gone viral.
Now she’s alerting shoppers to the dangers of plastic jars of peanut butter, and says its like ‘eating plastic’ and ‘one of the most toxic foods you can purchase.’
Writes Tamara: ‘This is a little bit of advice I have personally been sharing with friends for 17 years now, and I thought it would be good to put it out there to the world.
‘Here’s the advice: Don’t EVER buy any kind of peanut butter in PLASTIC containers.
‘Even organic peanut butter should not be bought in plastic containers.’
Image: Getty
Tamara goes on to explain that her friend and colleague Lee Hitchcox wrote of the dangers in his book ‘Long Life Now: Strategies for Staying Alive.’
Explaining the reasons behind why she believed no-one should eat the popular consumer product, Tamara says: ‘Most of the peanut butter on the grocery store shelves (even in many “natural foods” stores) already contains pesticide and/or fungicide residues, tons of sugar and a host of other additives.
‘Peanut butter must also be heated to flow through the machinery for it to be quickly, easily and consistently poured into jars (plastic jars are also often then heat-sealed – the sealing of the combination foil-type/plastic barrier that is usually found under the lid for food safety reasons.)
‘The concern is that the now hot oils/fats in the peanut butter help the plasticizers (in the plastic jars and lids) leach into the food, and along with all the other chemical residues and additives, make for an incredibly toxic product.
‘The plasticizers bond to the oil in the peanut butter as a result of the packaging process. The consumer is then eating plastic… which is why peanut butter packed in plastic is one of the most toxic foods you can purchase.’
As a result, Tamara says she only buys peanut butter in glass jars - and implores others to do the same. Tamara has also released details of results from plastic peanut butter testing - click here for more - as well as offering more advice on which peanut butters are safe to eat and buy.
