Don’t Buy Peanut Butter In A Plastic Container. Ever.

We do not buy much plastic, as we know about its health hazards. But this new discovery about peanut butter in plastic containers blew our minds!

It is only suitable that we address this critical subject in honour of plastic-free July. More people have to hear about plastic and its many bad sides. We are so used to it, that we do not even notice how it silently creeps into different areas of our lives: food, hygiene products, chemicals, toys, etc. come in plastic packaging.

I came across this recommendation when I was looking to find out if this particular peanut butter was in a glass or plastic container. It was very hard to figure this out, as most of the time it was simply called a jar. That could be either glass or plastic, right? Anyway, I landed on an informative website (source is at the bottom of this article), where I discovered the following:

Don’t buy any kind of peanut butter in PLASTIC containers

That includes even the organic kind. It is a recommendation also for any kind of nut or seed butter. Basically, avoid any kind of plastic containers! This knowledge is originally from a book written by Lee Hitchcox, D.C.

He states following:

• Most of the peanut butter on the grocery store shelves (even in many “natural foods” stores) already contain pesticide and/or fungicide residues, tons of sugar and a host of other additives
• Peanut butter has to be heated to be able 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 residue 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 in plastic is one of the most toxic foods you can purchase.*

*Direct information from the original source.

It sounds awful, doesn’t it?

Where is the peanut butter in glass jars?

We really didn’t buy much peanut butter in plastic containers. But from now on we will never do that again. We hope that one day we can also start buying, when our budget allows, the organic kind in glass jars.

If you are in North America, you should probably stop buying your nut butter from Trader’s Joe’s and Costco. Because their organic peanut butter comes only in plastic jars.

Tamara was so kind to share a list with links on her post about few safer choices of peanut butter:

• Santa Cruz Organic (in glass)
• Organic Maranatha (in glass)
• Organic Once Again (in glass)
• Fixx & Fogg (in a glass jar) 

You may also keep an eye on Nuts to You butters, as they offer organic and conventional nut and seed butter since 1989. This is an original Canadian full-range nut butter manufacturer. The nuts and seeds in their butter are dry roasted or raw and do not contain added salt, sugar, or saturated oils. Nuts to You nut butter are kosher, Non-GMO and dairy, soy, wheat, and gluten-free.

But even from a regular convenience store, you can find all-natural, peanut butter such as this one.

Basically whatever you buy, try to keep in mind that the fewer ingredients they contain, the healthier the product, and if possible choose a glass container. Besides, 100% peanut butter tastes so much better anyway! But if you are more interested in what kind of results Tamara Rubin got from the testing of XRF technology, click here to see the results of this testing!

Thank you so much Tamara for opening our eyes! Our search for the plastic container free peanut butter goes on. Though recently we have started thinking of making it on our own!

Source: Tamararubin.com