DailyDirt: Adulteration Of Foods May Not Be What You Expect
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Some food additives can be dangerous to public health — such as adding melamine to infant formula. So understandably, government agencies policing food safety should focus on health issues related to food additives and food poisioning. But there are perfectly safe food additives that are just aimed at increasing the profits of food distributors, and it looks like Americans might want to research their cheese suppliers a bit more closely.
- The FDA found that Castle Cheese Inc wasn’t selling 100% real parmesan cheese — just a lot of fillers (e.g., cellulose) and cheaper cheddar cheese. It’s not unsafe to eat, but an estimated 20% of hard Italian cheeses in the US could be deceptively labeled. [url]
- Cellulose is a common food additive, so if you saw headlines of “wood pulp in cheese” — it’s nothing new, really. It’s not sawdust, and food scientists have tried to source cellulose from non-wood plants, but it’s not as easy to get. Cellulose has been used as an anti-clumping agent in baking, and the food industry claims it provides a healthy source of dietary fiber. [url]
- The adulteration of food stuffs has been a tempting way to increase profits since forever. Olive oil was once the most adulterated agricultural product in the EU in 1997-1998. Olive oil is easy to dilute with cheaper oils and has been tampered with as far back as ancient Greece, and adulteration can be difficult to detect — even with modern chemistry. [url]
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Filed Under: cellulose, cheese, dietary fiber, fda, food, food additives, food safety, olive oil, parmesan, wood pulp
Companies: castle cheese
Comments on “DailyDirt: Adulteration Of Foods May Not Be What You Expect”
Yum.
Anything that says “100% real” anything… probably isn’t.
Re: Yum.
Everything that exists is real by definition.
100%
Saw “100& apple juice (plus other ingredients)” WTF!
Re: 100%
They have to use 100& because they can’t use 100%.
Spectrum of Lying
Corporations paid congress for the right to lie, so they do. But they aren’t the only ones who lie. Government does. Law enforcement does. Courts do. The only ones left who aren’t allowed to lie are us, and so help you if you do and are caught, where they will lie to convict you as well.
Oh, and grow your own food, only way to know what IS in it.
I Only Eat Chemical-Free Food
All this carbon and nitrogen and hydrogen cant be good for you. Carbon monoxide is so poisonous, is dihydrogen monoxide really GAURANTEED safe? Think of how much it hurts the next time you hit your head on an iron bar, do you really want iron in your food? Will does ascorbic acid corrodes your stomach lining? Why take the chance?
Re: I Only Eat Chemical-Free Food
y-e-a-h-h-h-h…
i get the schtick, but not sure how far you are taking it…
molecular compounds do not necessarily equal ‘chemical’, especially in the sense MOST people use it MOST of the time…
i am pretty sure MOST of us are at least concerned, if not paranoid about WHATEVER food additives/adulterants are used to process ‘our’ foodstuffs…
it is NOT that some chemical admixtures may not be -on balance- beneficial and we would definitely ‘vote’ for them, IF WE KNEW WHAT WE ARE ‘VOTING’ ON ! ! !
BUT, we do NOT trust Big Agra, etc, because they have put profits before honor… they do not DESERVE trust, and the wiser default position would be to discount/distrust EVERYTHING they claim, since it is impractical to impossible to parse out what is true/untrue in their propaganda…
…or you could try breathairianism, and see how far that takes you…
Re: Re: I Only Eat Chemical-Free Food
“molecular compounds do not necessarily equal ‘chemical'”
To the lay person maybe not. But that just shows how much people don’t understand.
You think Mr Big Content is being over the top, and he is, but I’ve had my college students tell me similar things. “I don’t want chemicals in my food or in my body”…apparently my students are on a steady diet of vacuum.
Also, molecular compounds that we ingest frequently…like caffeine? Not a chemical? C’mon…
Re: I Only Eat Chemical-Free Food
Tell you what…
Why don’t you partake heavily of carbon monoxide and get back to us.
Better yet, just over indulge in Iron supplements.
Re: Re: I Only Eat Chemical-Free Food
nice, you have anything to add, other than i should FOAD ? ? ?
didn’t think so…
Re: Re: Re: I Only Eat Chemical-Free Food
Not quite. I was suggesting you follow your own rhetoric.