A popular Thanksgiving dinner staple in the United States is banned in several European countries and Japan due to two ingredients being linked to cancer.
Stove Top Stuffing, an instant boxed stuffing mix that is popular to have with Thanksgiving dinner, contains two ingredients, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), that are “known human carcinogens and may cause other health problems,” Dr. Neha Pathak, MD, who serves on the Medical Team for WebMD explained to the New York Post.
The product is banned in the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Japan. Pathak explained that “these types of preservatives” are banned due to the “cancer risk.”
“A lot of countries have much stricter rules around what’s allow[ed] in food,” Pathak told the outlet.
The ingredient list for the Stove Top Stuffing turkey version shows that, along with BHA and BHT, the product contains “enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate [vitamin b1], riboflavin [vitamin b2], folic acid), high fructose corn syrup, salt, onion” along with other ingredients:
Enrich wheat flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate [vitamin b1], riboflavin [vitamin b2], folic acid), high fructose corn syrup, salt, onion*, contains less than 2% of hydrolyzed soy protein, cooked turkey*, yeast, interesterified soybean oil, celery*, parsley*, potassium chloride, spice, sugar, caramel color, maltodextrin, turkey broth*, disodium guanylate, disodium inosinate, silicon dioxide, natural flavor, with bha, bht, and rosemary extract as preservatives, *Dried
“These types of preservatives are banned in the European Union, and mostly it’s because of the cancer risk,” Pathak explained. “The cancer risk is something that is concerning and certainly reasonably anticipated based on the studies we have.”
Pathak noted that there were “lots of animal studies that show that high doses” of BHA and BHT “can cause tumor development in rats and hamsters.”
That’s not the only cause for concern. Dr. Pathak said that the chemicals may also be endocrine disrupters, meaning they might interfere with our hormonal functioning, impacting reproductive or developmental health.
“We’re still studying what it means in regard to endocrine disruption specifically,” Pathak told the outlet. “We know it can interfere with how our hormones talk to different parts of our body. Is it fertility, is it early menstruation? We’re still trying to figure out exactly what these downstream effects are going to be.”
In a statement to the outlet, a spokesperson for the Stove Top Stuffing brand highlighted how, “For over 50 years, Stove Top Stuffing has been a trusted favorite on family meal tables,” adding that each “box is crafted with care.”