REVEALED: The fast food restaurants with highest levels of chemicals (2024)

Wendy's is the fast food restaurant with the highest levels of toxic, microscopic toxins in its meals, according to a shocking analysis.

Its chicken nuggets were found to contain up to 10-times more phthalates - a 'forever chemical' linked to cancer, fertility issues and autism - than food sold at rival chains.

The watchdog Consumer Reports tested 18 fast food meals from nine of America's favorite fast food restaurants, including McDonald's, Burger King and Taco Bell.

Moe's Southwest Grill chicken burrito scored second highest for phthalates, with Chipotle's chicken burrito third.

Phthalates are a group of chemicals used to make plastics such as food containers, bags and disposable cutlery more durable.

They belong to a wider group of 'forever chemicals', which earned their name because they cannot be broken down once they are lodged in the body.

Exposure to heat and other conditions cause the chemicals to shed from plastic products and leach into anything the plastic comes into contact with — from clothes to foods.

For the tests, researchers took two to three samples of each fast food item and sent them to a lab to test for phthalate levels.

The items were purchased from stores run by the popular brands from across the United States. Little Caesars, Domino's and Pizza Hut were also included in the analysis.

Of the 18 fast food items swabbed, Consumer Reports found that on average they contained about 12,000 nanograms (ng) of phthalates per serving.

A nanogram is about a billionth of a gram.

In fourth place was Burger King's famous Whopper with Cheese burger — wrapped in paper — which contained 20,167ng of phthalates per burger, or serving.

And in fifth place was Burger King's Chicken Nuggets — also wrapped in paper — which contained 19,520ng of phthalates for every ten pieces.

At the other end of the scale was Pizza Hut's Original Cheese Pan Pizza — delivered in a cardboard box — which contained 2,718ng of phthalates per slice.

Just ahead was Burger King's Whopper Hamburger Patty — which contained 2,870ng of phthalates and Wendy's Dave's Single Hamburger Patty — at 3,629ng of phthalates.

It is not clear how much of these get broken down by the body or released naturally during the digestive process. But the CDC says that between 2 and 20 nanograms per milliliter of blood can cause people adverse health problems.

Consumer Reports said the phthalates may have got into fast food when it came into contact with packaging — which is normally plastic-coated.

The plastics could also have got into foods like burgers and burritos during preparation — with the plastic gloves worn by workers to avoid contamination likely shedding phthalates onto burgers.

They can also get into items like breads and wraps during manufacturing when dough comes into contact with plastics in factories — or may already be present in foods if plants have absorbed them from the soil.

Exposure to the chemicals has been linked to asthma, ADHD, breast cancer, obesity and type 2 diabetes.

They have also been linked to a series of birth issues, including low IQ, behavioral issues, autism, altered reproductive development and male infertility.

Tundle Akinleye, a scientist at the watchdog who oversaw the testing, said regulators have not yet set a 'safe level' for the substances in foods because they are so common.

But, given the accumulating evidence over health concerns, they said: 'We don't feel comfortable saying these levels are okay.

'They're not.'

Researchers said the wide variation in phthalates levels showed there were ways to minimize exposure in food preparations.

The results were released as part of a larger report which tested 85 everyday items for the presence of phthalates and bisphenols, another type of PFAS.

They tried to make the tests as broad as possible — swabbing everything from soda to cereal, bread, meat, fish, condiments, desserts and even baby food.

Yet all but one of the products tested positive for the substances, which have been dubbed 'forever chemicals' because they were virutally impossible to break down in the environment.

It comes amid growing fears about the massive amounts of chemicals being ingested by Americans every year.

A study earlier this week found bottled water contained a quarter of a million pieces of microscopic plastics.

DailyMail.com has contacted Wendy's, Moe's Southwest Grill and Chipotle for comment.