Food With Chemical Additives: What is in it For You?
78A vision of the food future.
For a moment, imagine that a fictional , yet ever-intrusive government seeking to protect everyone from themselves, passed a law forbidding people to use words like "cereal " or "bologna", by extending the truth in packaging and nutrition labeling to our everyday conversations.
We might begin hearing things like the following:
Flavored coffee (with additives)
"Hi, Bobbette! Haven't talked to you for awhile . . .
"Come on over and have a hot cup of sugar, corn syrup solids, hydrogenated vegetable fat, sodium caseinate, Dipotassium Phosphate, Sodium silico-aluminate, emulsifiers, artificial color, instant coffee, ....
. . . and . . .(breathing deeply) . . .
. . . cocoa processed with alkalai, ammonium carragenen, salt, and vanillin --an artificial flavoring-- with me, I shouted cheerily to my neighbor as she stepped out of her car and began unloading groceries.
Bologna sandwich?
"Oh, thanks," she said, " I''ll come over in a bit for the . . . what you said . . . but I was first just going to fix myself a quick sectioned and formed beef and pork, water, salt, corn syrup dextrose, flavorings, Hydrolized vegetable protein, Monosodium glutamate, ascorbic acid, oleoresin paprika, sodium nitrate . . . sandwich on . . . something.
A Question
If you ever make a homemade loaf or bread , or if you have ever thought of doing so, would you include a bunch of chemical ingredients, emulsifiers and preservatives?
NO?
Then why do we buy processed food products that sound like they have been formulated by mad scientists?
"I was in such a rush this morning," she explained, " I didn't even have time for a bowl of oat flour, wheat starch, sugar, salt, calcium carbonate, . . . sodium phosphate . . . sodium ascorbate, artificial color, . . . niacin, iron, gum acacia, . . .Vitamin A, palmitate, pyridoxine, riboflavin, thiamin and, of course, BHT to preserve freshness!"
She was almost out of breath with reciting the legally required list of ingredients so well and completely, so I didn't ask for any more details.
Cereal with yummy additives?
"Well," I said as she pulled another bag out of the car, "I know Monday mornings can be hectic.
"If I hadn't seen to it that my kids had a decent breakfast this morning they would have been off to school with no more than a glass of sugar, nonfat dry milk, cocoa, corn syrup, solids, vegetable fat, sodium silico Aluminate, Carboxmethyl 1, cellulose, soy protein isolate, sodium caseinate, salt and artificial flavor.
"Heaven knows they wouldn't get far on that."
"Right, on," she agreed, " If mine get up five minutes late they think they can just rush off with only a toasted slice of wheat flour, water, select wheat bran, whole wheat, rye, defatted flaxseed meal, sugar, vital wheat gluten, molasses, shortening, yeast, soy flour, honey, salt, whey solids, yeast nutrients, dough conditioners, calcium propitianate, calcium sulfate, ferric phosphate, , niacin, thiamine and riboflavin
"-- and then they spread it with a little partially hardened soybean and cottenseed oils, nonfat dry milk, and water, salt vegetable lecithin, vegetable mono and diglicerides, sodium benzoate, citric acid, artificial flavor and color with vitamin A palmitate and Beta carotine added.
"They think they can get through a busy morning on that."
Mac and Cheese comparison
Another hubber, Shawnee Emmet, compares two similar products to get a better picture of ingredients. Click the title: Comparing Kraft Organic and Annie's.
Top your salad with something good for a change.
Did you know that bottled prepared salad dressings are some of the worst offenders when it comes to artificial additives?
Click this link to learn about how to make your salad truly healthful:
"It's not exactly what I'd call a square meal," I agreed.
"How did you have time to fix breakfast for your kids this morning," she asked.
"Oh, simple," I said, "I just squeezed some oranges for juice and scrambled a few eggs."
She looked at me quizzically and disappeared inside her front door with the groceries.
I haven't seen Bobbette since the last time she came over to borrow a cup of monosodium glutamate.
I think she's avoiding me. Maybe I neglected to mention an ingredient?
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For a very serious subject, you found a very interesting way to tell it. What we often do wrong is start our day off on artificial ingredients and sugars, not realizing that a good dose of protein is what helps us to focus for the rest of the day.
Thanks, Alekhouse. I wrote this a long time ago and just found it in my miscellaneous file. I think the names of some of the additives have changed in recent years. (No one says hydrognated 'fat' anymore-- oil sounds better.) Also consumer awareness has made some food processors give up a few additives. MSG is much rarer now. Still, there are way tooo many additives in most processed foods-- things we would never think of putting in our own recipes.
Thank you, Cardisa. The only way that it change, is for people to really become aware of what they are eating. Wouldn't it be a pain to have to really speak out all of these strange additives and know what they actually are?
Rochelle, you are right on the mark with your headline, 'What's In It For You." Unfortunately, as you so wisely point out, there are a lot of ingredients in 'it' which we ought not to eat, like MSG. I wrote a hub once upon a time that listed the dozens of names the US government allows food mnufacturers to use rather than MSG. "MSG and Fat Rats and Us." Even when we read all the ingredients we are not always sure what is in it for us.
You are right, drbj. Now that some processors have found out that a few people actually read the ingredients list, they have tried to make them sound a little more friendly. I'm shopping a lot more in the produce section. (Now I'm wondering what was sprayed on the apples.)
I will look for your MSG hub, thanks.
This got to me, even though the whole approach to the subject was very light-hearted and humorous. I really do wonder what's in a Hostess Ho HO.
I think there's probably nothing in a HoHo-- that's why it sounds like it's laughing. Yeah, check labels. . . and thanks for the comment, Paradise7.
I enjoyed reading your article. Thanks for sharing; I am always concerned about chemicals in the foods I eat.
Thanks, Coolmon2009. I think there are good reasons for concern.
This is one of the best hubs i have read on this site. It is humorous, serious, informative and excellently written. Kudos to you.
I am a label reader so when i shop it takes me a while to find things with the least amounts of poisons listed. I did a hub a while back entitled "why i hate grocery shopping" that was meant to be sort of sarcastic, but hopefully it got the point across. I will link this hub to mine that are appropriate, if OK with you.
Thanks, d.william. Links are always fine, and yes, we all need to be label readers and probably would be better off if we bought more items with very short ingredient lists.
I bought a package of dried black beans the other day and was amazed to see the ingredients list said, "black beans". And that was all.
Very cute and cleverly put and it would be a headache having to go through all that.
Thank you, Hello, hello,. A very big headache ... or it would force us to use things that don't have the long ingredients list, for fear of arrest. That would just be wrong on so many levels.
Love it. It is problematic to control everything in ones life, like you express. It seems extreme and yet, I could see this happening.
Great hub and worth being voted up!
I sure hope not. I could never remember those lists and I would have to eat eggs and apples. Thanks for reading , SaMcNutt.
Me too, on both counts! :)
Thanks again, just wanted to remind people to read labels.... even then, the information is often confusing or meaningless.
wow, the end of your story just blew me awayWonder why she avoided you? I switched to simple foods and simple cooking along time ago to avoid all that stuuff, especailly high fructose corn syrup, I really beleve that, that it is one of the harshest sugars, just as worse as caffine.
I loved how you wrote an important topic with a lighthearted spin on it. You got the message out there to read the labels and achieved an amused smile :)
@ pan1974-- You probably realize this is fiction (for now) as for the corn syrup, yes I might say t is just as worse or worser than caffeine.
HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved it! Wish I'd have thought of it!
What would really be good would be for me (and everyone) to be educated thoroughly on exactly what all of that stuff is, and how it's digested, and what it does and doesn't do towards our personal health.
Sorry, I was dreaming again. . . .
I am always concerned with what goes on inside my body when I ingest all these food additives. I am not worried about coming down with cancer but my body does produce allergic reactions to certain foods that are processed. I question the word "organic" on labels and I find myself comparing food labels all the time. Thanks for your hub. I know it will get readers to look at what they are eating a little bit more closely.
Thank you Wesman Todd Shaw. Yes, I guess there's no way out, but to educate ourselves. I think we have been eating/drinking corn syrup for so long we have begun to think that it's OK-- after all, it's corn, right? Well, not exactly, and our bodies don't recognize it as corn.
There are several sites which have lists of food additives. Yes, we should know more about them.
CMCastro: I'm glad you question. "Organic" is the new buzzword that is supposed to make us think that it's all good. Big processors have even jumped on the word and put it on their labels.
Some big food companies are actually eliminating some of the additives that were previously used, lowering sodium and corn syrup--but in other cases they are just changing the names of ingredients to make them sound better. We have to keep making noise.
Good stuff. :) As we learn more about the chems in our foods we will go back to fresh squeezed juice and eggs--no matter what anyone else things!
Fun hub, interesting comments--voted up.
Thanks, RTalloni. You are right, we need to get simpler in a lot of ways. I appreciate all of the comments.
Fantastic hub, Rochelle -- it really is terrifying to look at the list of ingredients in some of the things we eat, which is why I try to follow Michael Pollan's guidelines on sticking to the outer perimeter of the grocery store (not that that's entirely foolproof either).
I really enjoyed reading this -- voted up and awesome. Well done!
Thanks, .josh. . My theory is if the name of an ingredient is hard to pronounce, I probably shouldn't eat it.
Voted up and funny. So true, too. Honestly I think it's sad that almost every product in our fridges and cabinets is filled with ingredients that aren't that necessary. If we eat what we need and not have to keep things for months then we wouldn't need all of the preservatives and additives, would we?
You make a good point, but the preservatives are more for the benefit of the processor, marketer and retailer. Such foods can be produced in mass quantity, shipped long distances and remain on the store shelf for a long time. If people want to store foods for months they can be dehydrated, freeze dried, pickled or often canned or frozen without additives.
Fresh is best, but food sometimes needs to be preserved. It has been done for centuries, but without all of the questionable chemicals that are now used.
Thanks for reading and commenting, kittythedreamer.
This was hilarious! I tried to say some of those ingredients in one breath. There were too many. Lol.
I think if we can't say them we should stick with the turnip greens and cornbread. Thanks for commenting, Paddyboy.
This was great! I absolutely loved it LOL. I am very concerned about the garbage placed in processed, packaged foods. I agree with you that we can preserve foods without all the chemicals and crud. Thanks for the laugh.
Thank you, CristinS. I'm glad you liked it. They write all of those things in teensy type, hoping we won't read it.=, but some of us still do.
alekhouse Level 4 Commenter 12 months ago
Greast article! These are the things I worry about. I've all but given up bacon, bologna, anything with red food coloring, nitrites, fake sugar, etc. I love the way you wrote this:
"...a quick sectioned and formed beef and pork, water, salt, corn syrup dextrose, flavorings, Hydrolized vegetable protein, Monosodium glutamate, ascorbic acid, oleoresin paprika, sodium nitrate..."
So true...so true...Thanks, Rochelle