Steve Pope wrote:

Victor Sack wrote:

Here in Germany, Steinhaus brand of ready-made Hollandaise is widely
available and is more than just passable for what it is. It is
certainly vastly better than any mix. It is packaged in plastic baggies
and found in refrigerated (not freezer) open display cases in
supermarkets here. It just needs to be heated in hot water for a few
minutes in its baggie, which is then cut open.

Would that result in a high concentration of pthalates?

What makes you think there are phthalates rather than some other
plasticisers in the baggies? The reason for their use in food packaging
is to make the material more clingy. The plastic in the baggies is not
supposed to be in any way clingy, however, and, in fact, it isn't, or
else it would be difficult to extract the sauce. The plastic used is
stiff and very slippery, so that the sauce flows out, leaving almost no
residue in the bag - the very opposite of clinginess.

Victor