Bad Chemistry
If you have traveled abroad, you may have noticed something very different about the foods available there. Supermarket displays may look a lot like what we see here in the States, but by and large, the food you see, buy, and consume there is missing a lot of things…things that are common here.
Things like food dyes, preservatives, flavorings, and other chemicals. And now some people are starting to get mad, recently protesting outside headquarters of Kellogg’s, the company that makes many of the sugary breakfast cereals we have in our bowl each morning.
I find it odd how our FDA can rule so many of these artificial ingredients to be safe, when numerous other agencies and governments around the world have completely banned them. Someone is seriously wrong here, and I suspect the FDA has dropped the ball, instead favoring long-term shelf-stable food products.
But many of the products containing these chemicals don’t need them so much for protection as they do basic marketing. Have you ever seen oranges on the tree in Florida or California? They are nowhere near as bright orange as the fruit we buy at the grocery, because they have all been bathed in orange dye. Fruit Loops? Artificially colored to make us think we are eating various fruits, when of course it’s just highly refined wheat and corn with “natural fruit flavors,” whatever that means.
These products are pervasive in the US, and hard to escape. You have to shop at Whole Foods, Sprouts, Trader Joe’s, and Natural Grocers to avoid them. You can tell the difference, too, especially with fresh veggies and fruits. If you don’t spray the produce with a preservative, those fruits and veggies will go bad a lot faster than what you buy at Walmart. I see it in breads, bagels, and tortillas I buy at those stores. They will start molding much faster than mass market bread products.
I understand that in the case of preservatives, there is an economic side to the argument. Less waste means cost savings, but at the potential expense of our health.
Meanwhile, the vast majority of food products sold in the US contain one or more artificial ingredients, all of which ostensibly have some noble purpose, but more than likely are not all that good for us. It is a problem created by the collision of several forces, from consumers being uninformed, to being unable or unwilling to buy healthier options, and the political pressure of Big Food in attaining and sustaining FDA approval.
It is not that the US has never banned any additives, because we have. Just not that many.
So what is it going to take to see change here in the US? It is going to take a concerted effort by consumers, meaning nearly all of us, to pressure companies into doing better. A complete revolution in consumer behavior is needed to effect this change. It means we will have to start reading labels and knowing what all those unpronounceable words mean. It will mean boycotting products that are phonier than a $3 bill, like Froot Loops. It means shopping more frequently for perishables, and buying less to avoid waste. And it means it will probably all cost more.
That’s a pretty tough prescription, one that is going to be a hard sell to many. It’s not a big ask if you are educated and make good money; it’s quite another if you come up short in either or both of those categories.
Even when you do care and make a concerted effort, it is hard to completely avoid these additives. Tin cans and plastic containers often contain BPA, or Bisphenol A. This chemical is used in the manufacture of many plastics, and is also used to line the inside of cans. Technically, it is a synthetic estrogen, something I am certain none of us want to be ingesting every time we eat.
In the wake of FDA approvals of these additives, we are left to fend for ourselves. And it seems like the chemicals are winning.
Dr “Doing The Best I Can” Gerlich
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