1. This is illegal in Canada
An hour after eating a diet of chips made with olestra pack-a-fat substitute Debra Jaliman, 55, a dermatologist in Manhattan, abdominal cramps felt so strong they had to cancel appointments with their patients. Reactions like that explain why the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy organization of consumers, says no one should eat olestra, and why Canada and the United States banned. But it is legal in the U.S., and the consumer found in foods like potato chips package with little or no fat, cookies and other snacks. Procter & Gamble, which sells under the name Olean olestra, claims to have spent 6.5 million food portions containing Olean since 1996, the year the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved it for use in that country.
Olestra is not the only banned substance that Americans are consuming. Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH or, often sold as Posilac), a synthetic hormone injected into cows to boost milk production usually occurs in many dairy-based snacks like ice cream. No case in the European Union and Canada, where it was banned due to concerns about its effects on the health of both cows and humans, as fears of a hormone associated with cancer may be present in people who drink treated milk rBGH (Eli Lilly, the company that makes Posilac, denies).
Meanwhile, rBGH is a lucrative product in the USA: a division of Eli Lilly bought Posilac for more than $ 300 million in 2008. Studies show that Posilac can increase milk production in cows by 15% or more, which means more milk to sell.
Two. We add insect sprays his snack
For Dr. James Baldwin, try this 27 year old woman from anaphylactic shock was easy, but figuring out what caused the reaction was a mystery. Several tests later, Baldwin discovered that the patient had a rare allergy to something he had eaten: carcasses and boiled ground beetles, which are frequently used in these snacks to create those beautiful shades of red, purple and pink in all the foods, from fruit juices to ice cream and candy. «It is a common dye,» says Baldwin.
No, you will not find the word «bug» in any part of the food labels, whereas possibly see not so scary «carmine», «carminic acid» or «cochineal extract.» And the remains of beetles are big business. Peru, the world’s largest exporter of cochineal produces nearly 910 tons of pigment each year, according to Amy Butler Greenfeld, Marshall researcher at the University of Oxford and author of «Perfect Red», which examines the history of cochineal. Experts say that this industry in Peru grew about 15% per year over the last decade, and as the demand for natural colors in the industry, predicts that Greenfeld cochineal industry will expand at par.
Three. Date to maturity? No expiration date
We all smiled with the urban legend that a treat will forever fresh in its plastic wrap. Turns out it’s not so crazy. The expiration date of highly processed foods may be significantly later than the date on the package, says Karen Duester, president of Food Consulting Company, which advises companies regarding food labels and FDA regulations. In fact, if the product is well sealed, kept away from light and has a low fat content of milk and it could last for years. This is particularly true in the case of canned snacks as maraschino cherries.
Those dates that say «best before» are voluntarily provided by the manufacturer, but since the experts say that these products can be consumed after maturity, why put them in the package? Encourages retailers to replenish their inventory and reorder the product more often, holding Duester. In addition, a maturity date closest to 2015 is not exactly appealing to a consumer.
April. That energy can leave you exhausted bar
Notices of energy bars usually have athletes and very fit, with names that evoke strength, wellness, and large outdoor venues, grow what food experts call «healthy halo». These messages seem to resonate with consumers; projects that the market for energy and nutrition bars grow more than 27%, from U.S. $ 962 million sales in 2003 to about U.S. $ 1,230 million by 2013, according to research firm Mintel market.
But if you read the list of ingredients, you’ll see that many popular energy bars start to resemble a surprisingly common candy bars. That is because the bars often contain ingredients such as corn syrup much fructose, dextrose and fructose sugars-all-plus chocolate, rice crackers and candy. «These bars can be concentrated dose of sugar,» said Sean C. Lucan, University of Medicine Albert Einstein. You will be given an immediate burst of energy, also known as a sugar-like frenzy which would give him a candy bar. And then it is likely to feel more tired than before eating bar explains. (And maybe eat another bar of this type). Even in the case of athletes these rods may not give them more energy. A 1998 study conducted by Ball State University found that bagels can achieve the same impulses in which aerobic performance energy bars.
May. There are pork bones in his pudding
Gelatin-and many gummy candies, marshmallows, pudding and Chews-usually made of skin, bones and tendons of animals, usually cows and pigs. The manufacturer grinds these parts of animals, treated with a strong acid for a few days to help eliminate collagen, and then boil the mixture. Then scrape the gelatin, which rises to the top of the boiling mixture in the containers. A major user, Kraft, sold 300 million boxes of Jell-O Jell-O in the U.S. every year and offers 158 branded products.
But the labels of these products do not do people know that parts of those animals in Bulk snacks. For all people who do not eat meat or animal products, or eat kosher food, that’s a problem. The 24 year old student Heather Bahler not learned that there was meat in gelatin until a year after becoming a vegetarian. «When I found out I was a little angry,» he says. E vegetarians when they find out that gelatin contains meat, it can still be very difficult to avoid. «Until today I find in places you never would have dreamed,» says Michael Garnett, a professional information technology 37, who is a vegetarian 12 years ago.
6. «Natural» does not mean anything of course
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which regulates meat and poultry bovine, defines natural products as those who have no artificial colors or ingredients. But the FDA, which regulates other foods, does not track so close that make use of this word the makers of snacks. «(The word) Nature basically has no meaning on food labels,» says Lucan. You will often see the term «natural flavor» in its package snacks, which, paradoxically, does not exactly mean «nature». Is more likely to result in chemical laboratories produced flavor Lucan claims. «Although these chemicals can be found in nature, ending in their food come from a chemical plant, not a living plant,» he warns.
But the word «natural» sells, especially since these days consumers are more willing to pay more for foods considered healthier, and Lucan says many are deceived. For example, a popular online service delivery products store sells a 227 gram bag of buns «Cheetos Natural White Cheddar Cheese», which contain ingredients such as citric acid and maltodextrin, for U.S. $ 4.19, 55% more than the price of a 255 gram bag of Cheetos common (U.S. $ 2.69), which contains a list similar ingredients (both contain corn, sunflower oil, citric acid, maltodextrin, cheddar cheese, salt, whey and ).
7. We are spending billions of dollars to fatten children
Christen Cooper, 38, was shocked when her son, then 2 years, said of Dunkin Donuts logo and called him by name. Registered dietitian and founder of Cooper Nutrition, a nutrition consulting firm in Pleasantville, New York State, Cooper says talking to your child about healthy eating and limiting television, but messages of junk food advertisers infiltrate all anyway.
«Order pills fruit and sugary cereals» he says. «Learn a lot of that television,» he added. His son, now 7, is how many children they point to advertisers: want foods that have characters like Shrek in their packages.
Messages manufacturers snacks foods children are pervasive and effective, even if not so obvious to his parents. The food and beverage industry in the U.S. spends between $ 10,000 million and $ 12,000 million per year, or more than $ 1 million per hour-on advertising to children and youth, according to Berkeley Media Studies Group, an advocacy organization of public health which is a subsidiary of the Public Institute for Health. And packaged snacks, fast food and sweets represent 83% of the foods that are advertised during the television programs most watched by children, according to a 2005 study published in the American Journal of Public Health.
8. Our factories are dirty
Any dry roasted rat in your peanut butter? That’s what he says he saw a snitch working for Peanut Corporation of America, a leading factory that product in Blakely, Georgia, USA, which provides companies like Kellogg. He claims he saw the rat-roach-plus peanut roasting in containers on the ground, which was the subject of a criminal investigation after a salmonella outbreak in 2009 that experts killed at least eight people. The researchers found rats when they visited the plant, but some major violations of health regulations, including cockroaches, holes in the roof that allowed rain to enter, cloths washed in the same sink that production equipment, and mold.
Each year more than 300,000 Americans are hospitalized and 5,000 die from contaminated food and drink, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. And some of these incidents are the result of unhygienic conditions in food processing plants.
And these are just the cases we know. Of the 51,229 processing plants and food production regulated by the FDA, 56% has not been inspected in the last five years, according to a report this year by the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services. And the amount of food premises inspections called «high risk» (those that produce food that can make us sick most likely) declined from 77% in 2004 to 63% in 2008. The percentage fell from 29 to 16% in plants of soft drinks and beverages, from 41% to 24% in baked goods, and 32% to 12% in the chocolates and derivatives.
9. His habit of buying candy bars is making us rich and infuriating retailers
Prices of chocolate treats have soared in the last decade. The producer price index, which measures prices received by producers of chocolate products, increased by over 40% between 2000 and 2009. (The categories of cookies and crackers and related products, along with ice cream and frozen desserts rose only 24%). Not surprisingly, the total sales of the chocolate industry have also increased from U.S. $ 13,400 million in 2002 to around U.S. $ 17,700 million in 2009, according to market research firm Mintel.
Producers argue that the price increase reflects the rise of cocoa or sugar. The owners of grocery stores and other retailers say something else happens: the illegal cooperation between manufacturers. Since 2008, dozens of chain stores and grocery retailers like Kroger, Safeway, Giant Eagle, Walgreens, SuperValu, Publix and CVS have filed lawsuits in which argue that big companies chocolateras-Hershey, Mars, Nestle and Cadbury Schweppes, which together control more than 75% market-chocolate candies have colluded to keep prices high since 2002. The demand for Giant Eagle, for example, the company stated that Hershey, Nestle and Mars, agreed in a «conspiracy», which meant that prices rose in coordination. (They said that the December 23, 2004, Hershey went up 16.7% to prices charged to Giant Eagle, after Nestlé’s increased 17.04% on January 12, 2005, then the imitated Mars with 15 , 6% increase on 6 March 2005). It is «extremely rare» grocery chains present such demands because it is extremely important for the future of your business to maintain good relations with suppliers of a popular product-as-chocolate, according to Jim Hertel, managing partner of the firm consulting for retail food sector Willard Bishop.
10. When we say «enriched» says processed
The snack foods like pretzels, cookies and donuts often promote whose ingredient enriched wheat flour, as something good. Not exactly. «Enriched» means that vitamins and minerals are added to food, but usually only after having been previously removed. Manufacturers first remove some vitamins and minerals through a refining process, and then some of the nutrients reintegrating that had been removed. «Enrichment should really be called ‘partial restoration,'» says Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy organization of consumers who researches and educates the public on issues of health and nutrition. And although the enrichment process adds nutrients such as thiamin, niacin, riboflavin and iron, not always reimbursed in the same amounts and can also remove a good amount of fiber, explains Jacobson.
We are Anonymous 