The Pillsbury Doughboy has been keeping secrets from us and the baker who lives on Drury Lane. Did you buy their well-marketed and easy-to-use pie crust recently? Have you read the label and seen an ingredient listed as BHA? It’s sending the FDA into another investigation; and as of Feb. 10, 2026, they’re doing an assessment of the ingredient used as a preservative in many foods sold on grocery store shelves, including the Doughboy pie crust.
Let’s have a science lesson together. BHA stands for butylated hydroxyanisole, and it is a solid, waxy petrochemical mostly used to keep foods and products from going rancid in cosmetics, food and products that contain oils.
We looked at Drugs.com to find prescriptions the product was used in and found an interesting study along with it:
“When used in food products, it delays oxidative rancidity of fats and oils, and prevents loss of activity of oil-soluble vitamins. It may be found in pharmaceutical gels, creams and liquid or gelatin capsules, tablets and other pharmaceutical dosage forms. Animal studies have shown tumors in rats and mice fore stomachs at levels much higher than that consumed by humans. Overall, the evidence does not support the occurrence of tumors when butylated hydroxyanisole is ingested at much lower levels.”
What is considered a lower level? Anything that has the word “synthetic” or “tumors” in the same paragraph should turn on red flags for consumers everywhere. When was this product allowed in our foods?
“The FDA listed BHA as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) in 1958 and approved it as a food additive in 1961,” according to the FDA website.
The very organization that allowed this ingredient to be consumed by Americans in the first place is finally relooking at the possibility of tumors being connected to certain processed foods the country is ingesting.
“We are taking decisive action to ensure that chemicals in our food supply are not causing harm,” FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, M.D., M.P.H., said. “The scientific community has raised significant concerns about some chemicals currently in the food supply. Once we complete our assessment of BHA, we expect to conduct similar assessments for butylated hydroxytoluene, a synthetic preservative known as BHT, and azodicarbonamide — a chemical used in yoga mats and also used as a dough conditioner.”
The Doughboy has been rotten to us. Sold as convenience, and now proof might be finally realizing that it is causing the cancer. Maybe we should be reconsidering bringing our new neighbors what we thought was always a friendly pie.
Rachel Redlin is a columnist, author, journalist, and award-winning radio host. She lives in Northwest Kansas with her husband and five children, where she writes about faith, food, and the simple everyday life. Want to read more or contact us? You can subscribe to the FREE newsletter at www.simplybloominggrace.com
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