We tested 374 receipts from 144 major chain stores in 22 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

The category with the largest number of receipts collected was grocery stores (87), such as Kroger and Whole Foods; followed by restaurants (65), such as McDonald’s and Popeye’s; and big box or department stores (59), such as Costco and Target. Other categories included home improvement, such as Lowe’s and Ace Hardware; gas and convenience stores such as Shell and Pilot; clothing stores such as Old Navy and Athleta; discount stores such as Dollar Tree and Five Below; drugstores such as Walgreens and CVS, and many more.

Test results for the retailers’ receipts can be found here.

Figure 2 shows bisphenol receipt usage by major businesses decreased from 93% in 2017 to 80% in 2022. It shows a shift away from BPA–9% of receipts had BPA in 2017 but just 0.3% in 2022–and a slight decrease in BPS from 84% to 79%. BPS appears to be a major replacement chemical for BPA in U.S. receipts. 

Still, a shift away from bisphenols is occurring. Non-bisphenol alternatives accounted for 2% of major store receipts in 2017 and 20% in 2022. Pergafast 201 was the most commonly detected alternative. Further details will be reported in an upcoming scientific journal article.