Attention pizza fans! A current test from Öko-Test shows that almost all pizza boxes are contaminated with the dangerous fabrics bisphenol A and Bisphenol S. So you can protect yourself.
What would be a life without pizza? Unimaginable for most. Quickly get a pizza from the Italian around the corner and enjoy it in peace at home or have the pizza delivered to the office, is part of everyday life for many. Öko-Test has now examined pizza boxes-and found that the cardboard boxes are anything but harmless.
Pizza carton test: toxic chemicals in almost all boxes
Every pizza to go brings a box with it – and with it garbage. But pizza stalls not only cause huge mountains of garbage, they can also be contaminated with problematic chemicals, as the test of Öko-Test shows.
The testers: On the inside, ten pizza stalls from well -known pizza chains and wholesalers have examined on two critical connections: on bisphenol A (BPA) and Bisphenol S (BPS). “Both may no longer be used in packaging materials that are intended for contact with food since January 20, 2025,” explains Öko-Test. However, this EU regulation does not apply to paper.
The result: Bisphenol A (BPA) and Bisphenol S (BPS) were found in almost all boxes. The laboratory results are alarming: In one case, the recommended daily dose of BPA was exceeded by 45,000 times. The chemicals are considered harmful to health.
The problem: The fabrics can go from the box into the pizza and thus get into our body. The very important question of the testers was therefore: Did the chemicals stay in the box? Or do you go into the pizza? “From the nine tested boxes, in which the detection of bisphenol A was positive, the laboratory was able to find a transition from the chemical to the pizza in four cases,” explain the testers: inside. BPS passed into the pizza in all cases.
The winners in the pizza cardboard test
Only a few performed well in the test of ten pizza boxes. Nevertheless, there are two winners:
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Pizza hat (no stress): The pizza cardboard from Pizza Hut is the only one in the test that was completely free of BPA and BPS. The reason: only fresh fibers are used for the box, i.e. paper without waste paper.
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Call a pizza (very low load): BPA was found here in the box, but it did not pass from the box to the pizza. Call a pizza also uses fresh fibers for their boxes.
Buy Öko-Test pizza boxes as an epaper
Loser in the test: 45,000 percent more BPA than allowed
The loser in the test is the pizza carton Italia from the manufacturer Cuboxal, which, according to the ÖKO-Test, is the market leader for pizza boxes in Europe. This box not only contained the highest total amount of BPA, but also gave the largest amount of pizza by far.
With the consumption of a single pizza, the daily recording quantities (TDI) from BPA (TDI) from BPA are exceeded by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) by 45,000 percent. Even the less strict value for the daily dose from the Federal Office for Risk Assessment (BfR) would be exceeded by 250 percent. At BPS, the measured value is even more alarming: it is 250,000 percent (!) Above the value for the daily maximum dose recommended by the EFSA. There is still no official TDI for Bisphenol A that BfR recommends using the BPA TDI also for BPS.
How do BPA and BPs get into the pizza cardboard?
The hormone poison comes into the pizza boxes via the recycled paper. In particular, thermo paper such as cash bons, parking tickets and tickets, which incorrectly ends up in the waste paper, is a main source for these pollutants. While BPA has been banned in thermal paper since 2020, some manufacturers replace it by BPS, which explains the BPS load in the boxes. “In addition, printing colors, adhesives or plastics in combination with paper bisphenol A can also contain – albeit in much lower amounts than thermal paper. When using recycled paper fibers in the manufacture of new paper products, remnants of bisphenol A could also get into the new products, ”the BfR explains the still high BPA content in recycled paper.
How dangerous is BPA?
BPA is an industrial mical that has long been criticized because of its hormonal effects. It is suspected of impairing the immune system, disturbing the reproductive ability and the development of the unborn child in the womb and increasing the risk of certain types of cancer. Obesity and behavioral problems in children can also be associated with BPA.
BPS is now also classified as dangerous to reproduce. The EU Chemical Ordinance REACH is both connections to the “particularly worrying substances” (SVHC).
So you can avoid BPA and BPS when pizza meals
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Take the pizza out of the box quickly: Take the pizza out of the box as soon as possible. The time the pizza remains in the box influences the amount of chemicals that pass into the pizza.
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Use reusable boxes: create a reusable pizza box. These are BPA-free. The boxes can be bought online for about 10 euros:
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Eating pizza on site in the restaurant or do it yourself at home.
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Refrain from waste paper: Make sure that no thermo paper gets into the waste paper in the form of receipts, parking tickets or tickets. The disposal of paper waste is at risk that the toxins spread over the waste paper. After all, they end up with us via products made of recycled paper (such as pizza boxes and toilet paper) – and in the environment.
- According to the Federal Environment Agency, the pizza box itself is allowed to go into waste paper – also “with smaller food attachments”:
BPA is not only a problem in pizza boxes. Öko-Test has also detected the hormone poison in dosing tomatoes and canned corn. It is believed that the fabric merges into the content from the can coating. Here you can avoid the risk by switching to products in glasses or composite boxes.
All details of the test can be found in the 01/2025 issue from Öko-Test or online on oekotest.de.
Read more on utopia.de:
- Bisphenol S: What you need to know about the substitute
- Dispose of the thermo paper: Are you allowed to go into the waste paper?
- Stiftung Warentest warns of health risk: BPA in conservation boxes
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