“However, we recognize that this strategy to reduce exposure is not always accessible to everyone,” she added. So, she and her colleagues point to their own prior research, which suggests that home cooking is the safer bet, since people tend not to use problematic plastic gloves, packaging and the like when prepping food in their own kitchen.

That’s a strategy echoed by Lona Sandon, program director of the department of clinical nutrition at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

“Many fast food chains rely on meats, chicken and fish or other foods that are preformed, partially cooked, then frozen, packaged in plastic, and shipped to the restaurant site to be finished at the time of order,” Sandon noted. “This gives plenty of time for these foods to sit wrapped in plastic.”

And even relatively healthy food options are not immune to plastic exposure, she added, noting that “organic or not, the risk persists if the food is stored in plastic that has these chemicals.”