Whats REALLY in your food

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Whats REALLY in your food

• By Andy Starks

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Ingredients are listed started with most popular
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Additives

• Additives are defined by the United States Food
  and Drug Administration (FDA) as "any substance,
  the intended use of which results or may
  reasonably be expected to result, directly or
  indirectly, in its becoming a component or
  otherwise affecting the characteristics of any
  food." Also any additive cannot be used until
  deemed safe by the FDA.
• Basically, food additives are substances added to
  food to preserve flavor or improve its taste and
  appearance.

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Direct vs Indirect

• Direct additives are those that are intentionally
  added to foods for a specific purpose. Indirect
  additives are those to which the food is exposed
  during processing, packaging, or storing.

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E-numbers (food labels)?
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Preservatives

• Preservatives are additives that inhibit the
  growth of bacteria, yeasts, and molds in foods.

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Who thought of preservatives?

• Some additives have been used for centuries for
  example, preserving food by pickling (with
  vinegar), salting, as with bacon, preserving
  sweets or using sulfur dioxide as in some wines.

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What they do

• Additives and preservatives are used to maintain
  product consistency and quality, improve or
  maintain nutritional value, maintain palatability
  and wholesomeness, provide leavening(yeast),
  control pH, enhance flavor, or provide color.

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New Improved

• With the advent of processed foods in the second
  half of the 20th century, many more additives
  have been introduced, of both natural and
  artificial origin.

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America's favorite food additives

• Sodium ascorbate Anti-oxidant
• Monogylcerides
• Gum Tragacanth - stabilizer (salad dressings)?
• Propylene glycol - emulsifier, stabilizer, and
  thickener
• Red 40 - Dye
• Acesulfame potassium (Aspartame) artificial
  sweetener

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RED 40

• When red 40 was first approved by the FDA as a
  food coloring additive there was some controversy
  as to whether or not it caused tumors and cancer.
  Those claims have been proven to be false but now
  many parents, Doctors and Teachers are becoming
  aware of other concerns regarding intake of red
  40, especially in young children.

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Kids and RED 40

• Children are most often the ones who have
  sensitivity to red 40. Reactions include temper
  tantrums, hyperactivity, aggressive behavior,
  uncontrollable crying and screaming, kicking,
  nervousness, dizziness, inability to concentrate
  and sit still among other findings. Physically
  you may get frequent headaches or migraines,
  upset stomach and feel ill after ingesting this
  additive. Often when Red 40 is eliminated from
  the child's diet a remarkable change is noticed
  immediately.

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Where it is found

• Red 40 is used in many food products including
  kool-aid, orange and other flavored sodas,
  cheetos and dorito chips, strawberry pop-tarts,
  any candy with red coloring to it including
  mm's, skittles, many chewing gums, etc. Also
  many children's vitamins and pain relievers/cold
  medicine have red 40 in the ingredients.

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Classes of Additives

• Antimicrobial agents
• Antioxidants
• Artificial colors
• Artificial flavors and flavor enhancers
• Bleaching agents
• Chelating agents (which are used to prevent
  discoloration and flavor changes)?
• Nutrient additives
• Thickening and stabilizing agents

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What to look out for

• A simple general rule about additives is to avoid
  sodium nitrite, saccharin, caffeine, olestra,
  acesulfame K, and artificial coloring. Not only
  are they among the most questionable additives,
  but they are used primarily in foods of low
  nutritional value.

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Bet you didn't know...

• During the late eighteenth century the French
  army was suffering from scurvy, malnourishment,
  and outright starvation, and the French
  government offered a prize of 12,000 francs to
  anyone who could discover a way to preserve food
  for the troops. Nicholas Appert, a candy maker,
  brewer, and baker, reasoned that he should be
  able to preserve food in bottles, like wine.
  After fourteen years of experimentation, he
  finally discovered that if he put food in glass
  jars reinforced with wire, sealed them with wax,
  and applied heat, the food didn't spoil. Appert
  was presented with the 12,000-franc prize by
  Napoleon himself. However, the secret of
  preserved food soon leaked to the English, who
  proceeded to invent the can, and the armies that
  faced off at Waterloo were both fortified by
  preserved rations.

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Work Cited and photos from
http//www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htmFoo
d20additive http//www.codexalimentarius.net/gsf
aonline/additives/details.html?id249 http//www.
associatedcontent.com/article/131963/is_the_red_40
_food_dye_additive_having.html http//www.codexal
imentarius.net/gsfaonline/additives/details.html?i
d249 http//www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O39-monogl
ycerides.html http//www.faqs.org/nutrition/A-Ap/
Additives-and-Preservatives.html http//www.pubme
dcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid1522242
http//www.mindfully.org/Food/Common-Food-Additiv
es.htm