McDonald's is making a healthier product, but it's not about salt or trans fats. Fast-food chain removing harmful PFAS chemicals from Big Mac container.
Toxic-Free Future and Mind the Store detected significant amounts of the toxin in food wrappers and containers at McDonald's and Burger King.
Citizens and groups demanded McDonald's discontinue using the chemicals in its packaging.
The corporation will remove all additional fluorinated chemicals from guest packaging by 2025. The firm has eradicated BPA, BPS, and phthalates from its packaging.
PFAS are approximately 5,000 man-made compounds that threaten human health, the environment, and drinking water.
The presence and quantity of PFAS in U.S. drinking water has been dubbed "one of the most important public health concerns for the coming decades"
McDonald's is the world's largest fast-food restaurant, thus this measure will help remove PFAS from food packaging.
"Tens of thousands of McDonald's customers have demanded action in the last year. We applaud McDonald's heeding our request."
The campaign disagrees with McDonald's on the 2025 implementation date. Four years is too long to poison consumers and frontline communities with unneeded lifelong chemicals.
McDonald's should phase out these chemicals by 2022 and use safe, reusable equivalents. Burger King and Wendy's should ban PFAS from food packaging.