TBHQ is a synthetic antioxidant that keeps fats and oils from going rancid, and the Environmental Working Group found it in more than 1,250 US processed foods. The FDA caps it at 0.02 percent, which sounds reassuringly small until you read what it is 0.02 percent of. Not the food. The fat and oil content of the food. The cap floats: the more oil a product carries, the more TBHQ it is permitted to carry along with it, and microwave popcorn, chips, instant ramen, and fried fast food are exactly the categories built on oil. You will not find the amount on the label either, because ingredient lists give you names in order of weight, never quantities. Here is the frame worth keeping: a percentage limit tells you nothing until you know what it is a percentage of. Full profile on the Dirty List at dietdiscipline.com/the-dirty-list/tbhq-tert-butylhydroquinone.
