I admit it. I'm paranoid about what's in my food, as demonstrated by the facebook post I wrote above. For ethical and health reasons, I do take issue with what's put in our food, but the more pressing issue for me is the withholding of information. Call me selfish, but I want full disclosure. If there is sand in the coffee creamer, or charred animal bones in my sugar, I want to know. It doesn't matter to me if they say sheep secretions aren't dangerous. If that shiz is in my gum, TELL ME. And don't call it some sweet sounding name like lanolin, just call it what it is- sheep sweat.
Here are four disgusting ingredients in our food that aren't disclosed to consumers. Does it matter to you? Read on...
Ammonia in hamburgers
1. Ammonia in hamburgers
After the profitable cuts of meat are removed from the cow, the carcass has little bits of fat, connective tissues and muscle fibers here and there. Really wanting to get all they could out of that poor cow, machines were invented in the 60's to efficiently separate the bones from the "edible" pieces so the meat scraps could be sold. The problem was that these meat scraps were highly susceptible to E. coli and according to the NY Times, federal officials were having a tough time coming up with a way to kill the E. Coli virus. Then, someone came up with the idea to inject the meat with ammonia. Ammonia as a gas is extremely hazardous to the respiratory tract, but no worries because you can eat it and it won't affect the digestive tract...right? Well, the concern is that when the gas comes in contact with water from the meat it turns into ammonia hydroxide which can destroy the body. Somehow no one at the USDA thought that was a big deal, and gave it a stamp of approval anyway. So voila, when you're eating a fast-food burger, or your kids are served hamburgers at school, you can bet a nice puff of ammonia was used in its production. They say it's a small amount of ammonia, but wouldn't you like to know when a toxic chemical is used in your meat?!
What to look for on the label: Sorry, friends, there's no way to tell in the US unless you buy 100% certified organic. If you're in Canada or England, you're in the clear as ammonia use on meat is banned in both countries. The USDA doesn't require labeling because it considers ammonia a "processing aid" and says that nothing is being added to the meat. Which is weird, since in tests it showed that ammonia was in fact being left on the meat.
Human hair in bread
2. Human hair in your bread.
Human hair from China (and elsewhere) is dissolved in acid. What's left is a non-essential amino acid called L-cysteine that speeds up the dough processing. Affectionately referred to as a "dough conditioner" (don't you just love those sweet little phrases?!), L-cysteine is shipped off to commercial bread makers and it shows up in your loaf of bread, pizza dough, pastries, bagels, etc. While amino acids from hair may not be a big deal to people in the West, the majority of human hair is coming from China, a country that has a poor record of regulation, and some people have questioned whether the donors were willing, or even alive when their hair was taken.
What to look for on the label: According to the FDA, the phrase "dough conditioner" and/or the ingredient L-cysteine is sufficient enough to give you the heads up that you are about to bread with human hair. Alternatively, you can buy flour and make your own bread because L-cystine is not added to flour.
3. Titanium dioxide in your white foods
Titanium dioxide is used as an additive to make food appear whiter. There is no other reason for its use in food. That doesn't really seem like a big deal until you consider that the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified it as an IARC Group 2B Carcinogen "possibly carcinogenic to humans". So, it might cause cancer yet it's allowed in our food purely for color?! Again, a prime example of how we are manipulated by the food industry. We've been conditioned to believe that white means clean. Skim milk, for example, is slightly blue after it's made. Would we buy blue milk? Probably not. So throw in a dash of that possibly cancer-causing titanium dioxide and boom, white milk. It's also found in candy like jelly beans and candy canes, toothpaste, white salad dressings, cream cheese, cottage cheese, processed cheese, breakfast cereals including rolled oats, yogurt, ice cream, Dunkin' Donuts foods, etc.
What to look for on the label: Oh surprise, surprise. The FDA doesn't require labeling because they consider it a food processing agent and not an actual ingredient. {Foot stomp, throws hands in the air.} The only way to avoid it is to buy 100% organic. Be careful though, because there are three types of organic labels (100% organic, organic and made with organic ingredients) and the latter two could get away with having titanium dioxide in their product and still use their respective organic label. 100% organic ensures that both ingredients and methods are 100% organic. A simple label with the word "organic" on it means the product must contain 95% organic ingredients. And "made with organic ingredients" means that at least 70% of the product is organic. Germans, you are safe. Titanium dioxide is banned for food use in Germany. It is approved for use in other EU countries.
red velvet cake
4. Crushed bug abdomen in your red foods
What do you get from 70,000 crushed South/Central American bugs? One pound of red coloring that is found in yogurts, ice creams, jelly, pie fillings, marinades, juices, gum, canned fruits, red or orange alcoholic beverages, dairy-based beverages, frozen fish, and more. Why does this matter? Well apart from the fact that we are needlessly killing bugs for the sake of coloring our food, many people have reported severe allergic reactions, asthma, gastrointestinal problems and anaphylactic shock.
What to look for on the label: Carmine, crimson lake, carminic acid, cochineal, cochineal extra, natural red 4. If you're in the European Union, look for any of those labels above in addition to E 120.
So tell me, does the lack of information bother you? Would you still purchase these products if companies clearly let you know what ingredients were used? The good news is that we can choose not to buy products we don't want to consume, and we can tell all our friends about ingredients like these. That is what happened when Starbucks customers demanded that they stop using carmine in their strawberry frappes. In response, Starbucks replaced carmine with a tomato based ingredient to retain the red color, and has also started to phase out the crushed bugs from the cake pops and red velvet whoopie pies, among other treats. As consumers we have the power, collectively, to say what we want and get it. I don't think explicit labeling is too much to ask.