It’s a convenient and, some would say, delicious meal. But is grocery store rotisserie chicken safe? One physician says it’s the one thing at the supermarket she would never buy.
Dr. Tania Elliott is a board-certified MD who has appeared on Good Morning America, Today, and ABC News. Her recent post about the rotisserie chicken that nearly every grocery store sells is coming as a shock to shoppers.
Elliot posted her reasons why she avoids the ready-made meal on Tuesday. So far the post has over 12,000 likes on Instagram.
What’s wrong with rotisserie chicken?
In the video, Dr. Elliott is asked what one thing she would never buy in a grocery store. Without hesitation, she says rotisserie chicken.
Consumers love the ready-made chicken for its convenience factor and most likely assume it to be a healthy option. According to Elliott, they should think twice before buying.
“The bag the chicken is stored in is plastic and it leaches chemicals that get into the food when it’s sitting under the heat,” she claims.
She also claims that the chickens are laden with preservatives and additives to make them keep longer and taste better. She points out, “We opt for preservative-free cosmetics and then we’re eating preservative-infested chicken.”
Lastly, she brings up a natural additive in rotisserie chicken most of us may not be familiar with: carrageenan.
“This is a chemical that pre-cooked poultry is injected with to make it tender and juicy, but guess what? It can also inflame the gut. Carrageenan is banned in Europe, but not in the United States,” she states.
Do plastic containers leach chemicals?
in 2024, a team of researchers found more than 3,600 chemicals that could come from food packaging or plastic tableware present in human samples, according to the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology.
Researchers wrote that this “highlights the urgent need to ban the most hazardous chemicals shown to migrate from food packaging and other types of FCAs into foods, to protect human health.” (FCA stands for “food contact article.”)
Per US News & World Report, a study by Food Packaging Forum raises further alarm about food packaging.
“[F]ood packaging materials may comply with government regulations, the study shows these chemicals may not be completely safe,” senior study author Jane Muncke, managing director and chief scientific officer at the Food Packaging Forum, reportedly said.
Muncke told NPR that leaching can be affected “by heat, time, whether a food is fatty or acidic and how much of the food is touching the container.”
While not all of the chemicals that may leak into food via packaging are dangerous, some—like phthalates, bisphenols, and metals—have been found to have adverse effects on health.
What is carrageenan? Is it safe?
According to WebMD, carrageenan “is made from parts of various red seaweeds in the Rhodophyceae family. It’s commonly used to thicken foods, but it has no nutritional value.”
The additive has purportedly been used in food since the 1950s.
“A broken down form called poligeenan is possibly unsafe,” WebMD notes. “It might damage the colon and cause bleeding and cancer. But this risk hasn’t been shown in humans.”
Per Cornucopia.org, the Food and Drug Administration classifies the additive as Generally Regarded as Safe (GRAS). However, research has found “that carrageenan causes an inflammatory response in many individuals, with sensitive populations (like those with colitis or [inflammatory bowel disease]) being especially susceptible.”
What did viewers think about the rotisserie chicken warning?
Many commented on Dr. Elliot’s video to share their frustration over finding a favorite food may be harmful.
“Oh, that sucks. I love Whole Foods’ organic rotisserie. I guess another one bites the dust,” bigmikebombsit wrote.
Another viewer bemoaned, “Why do you gotta kill all our fun? I love rotisserie chicken.”
“Don’t you talk smack about my precious Costco rotisserie chickens,” a third added.
In response to an inquiry, Dr. Elliott told the Daily Dot that the U.S. needs better food standards. She also urged people to make their own rotisserie chicken “with 2 tbsp olive oil, a little bit of salt, and 1/2 lemon”
“I don’t want to be an alarmist but it’s important to understand and have transparency into what we are putting into our bodies,” she added.
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