People are just learning why fish and chips came in newspaper

Teatime or seaside favourite, fish and chips used to be served in newspaper wrapping, but have you ever wondered why? These days plain white paper wrapping is used by chip shops due to the original practice being deemed unsafe.

Matthew, a member of staff from Sankey’s Seafood Restaurant in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, has taken to TikTok to share the origins of the food and its wrapping.

“There’s a rather rich and fascinating history behind it, so before you tear into your next saveloy or battered haddock, learn a few fishy facts,” he penned in a caption alongside his TikTok video.

He added: “It all started back in World War 2. There was a shortage of paper, so shops would wrap your fish and chips to take away in used newspapers.”

But before too long, health concerns were raised. In the past, newspaper ink often contained petrol and lead content in some instances.

Matthew explained on his TikTok post: “This led to real concerns about lead poisoning through fish and chips.

“Eventually the EU outlawed wrapping food products in used newspaper. Nowadays, we use certified food-safe products – we’ve even printed snazzy little lobsters on ours.”

These days, Matthew pointed out, some restaurants now print “fake newspaper” wrapping in to capture an authentic feel of days gone by. He joked: “What do you reckon, Nige [Nigel Farage]? Now that we’re out of the EU, should we be wrapping our fish and chips in old newspaper? Brexit fish and chips!”

Another TikTok user commented on Matthew’s post, writing: “This is so interesting. Growing up I was told newsprint is sterile and that’s why it was also used in maternity wards in a pinch to deliver babies into when there was a shortage of clean laundry!”

Other TikTok users claimed wrapping techniques meant the food never came into contact with the newspapers’ ink, however. “I was born in ’63 the food didn’t come into contact with the newspaper, there was another layer, baking parchment maybe, I was a kid so not sure what it was, but that was in contact with the food,” one person said.

Another agreed, explaining: “The food never came into contact with the newspaper, they used plain paper for the food and the newspaper was used as insulation to keep it warm on the walk home.”

And a third recalled: “I can remember very distinctly watching the guy wrapping our fish and chips with newspaper. He also popped some white paper, also that was in the 60s.”

Following the debate, Matthew responded to the comments. He pondered: “From the comments it looks as though some did and some didn’t use baking parchment. Maybe we could go back to using that?”