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On September 5, 2012, a woman holds a plate of fried food at the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona, California. The country’s largest county fair will be held from August 31 to September 30 to celebrate its 90th anniversary. Reuters/Lucy Nicholson (US-Tags: Food Society Anniversary)-RTR37K1S (Reuters/Lucy Nicholson)

If you think your fast food fries are pure deep fried, please think again. Looking at the McDonald’s ingredient list, you will find that fried food is "adding TBHQ and citric acid to vegetable oil (canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil) to keep the oil and dimethyl polysiloxane fresh To reduce oil splashing during cooking."

Sadly, it's not just McDonald's. Many fast food chains and restaurant chains use additives in their frying oil. What are they? TBHQ is the abbreviation of tert-butyl hydroquinone, which is an antioxidant and can be used as a preservative for many different types of fats. It is also used as a corrosion inhibitor in biodiesel and is added to varnishes, varnishes, resins and perfumes. According to the FDA, the amount used in food is safe, but in very large doses it may cause stomach cancer.

Dimethylpolysiloxane is a silicon-based organic polymer, which means it is basically a plastic. It is transparent, inert, non-toxic and can be found in everything from contact lenses to shampoos and lubricants; its viscosity ranges from thin pourable liquids to viscous rubber-like solids. Its unique characteristics are best reflected in Silly Putty (it is one of the main ingredients) and Kinetic Sand (a toy that looks like wet sand but is completely plastic). It is added to the oil as a defoamer to prevent splashing during frying, so you will find trace amounts of it in many fried fast foods. Because silica gel is completely inert and non-toxic, it will not cause any harm to humans, but it is still a bit strange to think that it is a free rider to our chicken.

Click here to see 9 scary-sounding chemicals hidden in fast food

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Do not publish, disseminate, adapt or redistribute this material. ©2021 FOX News Network Co., Ltd. all rights reserved. Quotes are displayed in real time or delayed for at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Supported and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Notices. Mutual funds and ETF data are provided by Refinitiv Lipper.