KFF Health News Reports on Dangerous Food Additive — Doesn’t Mention It’s Also Used in Vaccines

A recent exposé by KFF Health News laid out the health risks of emulsifiers like polysorbate 80 used in processed foods. Vaccine experts said this raised the question: If the chemical is too dangerous to ingest, why are we injecting it into newborns?

by Brenda Baletti, Ph.D.

JUNE 13, 2025

Food manufacturers add emulsifiers to thousands of food products to stabilize their consistency, even though a large and growing body of research shows some emulsifiers are linked to health problems, according to a recent investigation by KFF Health News.

“Studies have found that emulsifiers can alter the mix of bacteria in the gut, known as the microbiome or microbiota; damage the lining of the gastrointestinal tract; and trigger inflammation, potentially contributing to problems elsewhere in the body,” according to KFF.

KFF’s investigation consulted experts globally who argued that emulsifiers should be eliminated from processed foods, or that it “may be prudent to limit intake” of some of the most toxic ones — like polysorbate 80 (PS-80) — and that doing so might eliminate debilitating symptoms associated with inflammatory bowel diseases.

But what KFF didn’t note in its investigation, and what food experts on emulsifiers don’t address, is that PS-80 is also commonly used as an excipient in vaccines. It’s also added as an “inactive” ingredient to many slow-release drugs, like aspirin and Tylenol, to help stabilize the drugs. It’s even found in some skincare products.

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s (CHOP) Vaccine Education Center, which promotes vaccines as safe and effective, reports that PS-80 is present in 22 vaccines given to children or pregnant women.

CHOP says that people are exposed to PS-80 in many products, including lotions, makeup, shampoos and conditioners, and common foods, including salad dressings, canned foods, and ice cream. The website states that the amount of the chemical in vaccines is comparable to an extremely tiny piece of a raisin.

Children’s Health Defense Senior Research Scientist Karl Jablonowski said that doesn’t make it safe.

“Nature didn’t create polysorbate 80. Chemical companies did, to make ice cream melt a certain way, to make baked goods uniform and to keep mixed things mixed.”

Jablonowski added:

“Though the processing of food and cosmetics has its desired chemical effect, it also has an unintended consequence that is deleterious to health. Once polysorbate 80 is added, I would no longer consider it fit for human consumption.

“Anything that is injected bypasses our natural defenses. A substance that is unfit to ingest is certainly unfit to inject.”

What research says about PS-80 in food

As of May 12, PS-80, one of the most commonly used emulsifiers, was listed as an ingredient on the labels of 2,311 products, according to an online database posted by the Environmental Working Group using information from NielsenIQ, KFF Health News reported.

Studies have shown that limiting or eliminating emulsifiers from the diet is an effective treatment for Crohn’s disease. Beyond the gut, research has linked emulsifiers to cancer and cardiovascular disease.

KFF Health News criticized regulators for “chronically playing catch-up” on food science, often leaving consumers to discern for themselves whether to ingest harmful compounds like PS-80.

However, when processed food makers first started using emulsifiers, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wasn’t looking at possible effects on gut health.

Dr. Robert Califf, former head of the FDA, said the standards on emulsifiers didn’t consider such adverse effects and need to be updated.

KFF called for more clinical trials in humans to study food additives and their effects on human health.

Unsafe to ingest, but safe to inject?

PS-80 is commonly added to vaccines as a stabilizer. It can also be a residual byproduct of the manufacturing process.

In recent years, “a range of issues and safety concerns” have arisen about PS-80’s use in biopharmaceutical products, according to research published in CrystEngComm, prompting some scientists to call for more research into its potential toxic effects.

Polysorbates have slipped under the radar in part because they belong to an old class of chemicals that began to be patented in the 1940s, when modern methods weren’t yet available to analyze their molecular composition.

Since then, their performance and stability have been largely taken for granted. As a result, there haven’t been many studies into its potential toxic effects as a pharmaceutical ingredient.

However, recent research indicates that the composition of polysorbates is more highly variable than previously thought — they can contain up to 355 different compounds.

The variation of components in different batches of any given polysorbate can range widely, and they are prone to degradation, which can lead to the formation of several unanticipated by-products.

Research also shows PS-80 crosses the blood-brain barrier, and injections containing the substance can trigger adverse effects, including the breakdown of red blood cells and anaphylactoid reactions.

A study published by the Royal Society of Chemistry in RSC Advances analyzing nine components of PS-80 found that it caused acute toxicity in zebrafish. The authors concluded that existing quality standards for pharmaceuticals aren’t sufficient to regulate the chemical safely.

They also said that the toxicity levels of the substance permitted for use as excipients should be further investigated.

‘Do they belong in the brain?’

The sorbitol used in the manufacturing process for PS-80 can remain in vaccines. Sorbitol has many known side effects, including abdominal pain, dehydration, diarrhea, dry mouth, excessive bowel activity, fluid and electrolyte loss, high blood sugar, lactic acidosis, nausea and vomiting, edema, and decreased urine output, according to research published in the Journal of Medical-Clinical Research & Reviews.

Dr. Arthur E. Brawer, who co-authored the Journal of Medical-Clinical Research & Reviews study, also noted that the sorbitol residue in PS-80 makes vaccines appear cloudy. To eliminate the cloudiness, manufacturers add other chemicals, including organosiloxane and silicon dioxide.

The FDA doesn’t require manufacturers to list the presence of those chemicals in any consumer products, including vaccines.

However, according to Brawer, combinations of hidden additives can increase vaccine toxicity more generally. A growing body of research shows that the toxicity load that builds from multiple vaccinations can be linked to a wide variety of chronic systemic autoimmune issues.

Pediatrician Dr. Lawrence Palevsky has called for research into the potential harm that can arise when vaccine ingredients are combined. He noted that PS-80 is typically used to help drugs or chemotherapeutic agents cross the blood-brain-barrier.

Palevsky asked:

“What viral, bacterial, yeast, heavy metal or other vaccine-containing ingredient needs to pass into the brains of our children?

“Do they belong in the brain? Is that part of the needed immune response to protect our children from disease? Do vaccine materials pass across the blood-brain barrier with the help of Polysorbate-80? If so, are there complications from being in the brains of our children?”

Polysorbate 80 more toxic when injected

Until recently, trace amounts of excipients were believed to have no effect on how the body metabolizes a vaccine.

However, many researchers argue that the increasing complexity of vaccine formulations and the large number of shots given to infants raise concerns about how excipients may affect vulnerable people.

Underdeveloped liver enzyme pathways in some infants may make it harder for them to process toxic ingredients in vaccines, a condition that could lead to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), according to a new study published in the International Journal of Medical Sciences.

Those pathways play a role in metabolizing PS-80 and other excipients, the researchers noted.

Compounds like PS-80 in vaccines have been flagged for their ability to cross-react with other chemicals and produce immediate hypersensitivity reactions, a type of “exaggerated or inappropriate” immune response that can include anaphylaxis.

Research also shows that in animals PS-80 is more toxic when injected compared to oral administration. Research showed weak toxicity when given orally, but when it was administered intravenously, it caused a range of symptoms.

Jablonowski told The Defender:

“While PS-80 is not absorbed very well when ingested, it can cause leaky gut, and the cascade of toxins and contaminants to enter the bloodstream. This can cause inflammation.

“Injecting PS-80 bypasses the natural barrier of the gastrointestinal tract and deposits it intramuscularly, and eventually into the bloodstream, causing symptoms that are not otherwise seen in ingestion trials.”

Studies of pregnant mice showed that PS-80 taken orally caused changes to the microbiome of the mothers that, in turn, caused metabolic syndrome in their offspring.

Another study showed their offspring had a lower birth weight and a decreased rate of stress avoidance responses.

Multiple vaccines for newborns, kids and pregnant women contain PS-80

Vaccines for COVID-19 (Novavax), Tdap, flu and respiratory syncytial virus or RSV contain PS-80, and have all been recommended for pregnant mothers.

Jablonowski said that much of the damage done by ingesting PS-80 comes in the form of disruptions to the gut microbiome, inflammation and inducing leaky gut.

Vaccine injections have much smaller amounts of PS-80 than the foods that contain it. However, given what’s known about PS-80 toxicity, its presence is still concerning, Jablonowski said.

“An injection bypasses the gut barrier, where very little substance can do a lot of harm. It’s the difference between the Greeks outside of Troy’s walls versus inside. The damage that can be done is amplified in the absence of defenses.”

Infants who follow the immunization schedule recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are exposed to polysorbate at birth, with an injection of Beyfortus, a monoclonal antibody meant to protect infants against RSV, and with the hepatitis B shot.

Other childhood vaccines that contain the chemical include the COVID-19 Novavax shot, DTaP vaccines, the HPV vaccine, several flu vaccines, meningococcal vaccines, pneumococcal vaccines and a Tdap vaccine.

The author of the KFF Health News article responded to an email from The Defender, but didn’t say if KFF Health News advocates for PS-80 to be removed from vaccines in addition to foods.