DailyDirt: Adulteration Of Foods May Not Be What You Expect

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Fri, Feb 19th 2016 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Some food additives can be dangerous to public health -- such as adding melamine to infant formula. So understandably, government agencies policing food safety should focus on health issues related to food additives and food poisioning. But there are perfectly safe food additives that are just aimed at increasing the profits of food distributors, and it looks like Americans might want to research their cheese suppliers a bit more closely.

The FDA found that Castle Cheese Inc wasn't selling 100% real parmesan cheese -- just a lot of fillers (e.g., cellulose) and cheaper cheddar cheese. It's not unsafe to eat, but an estimated 20% of hard Italian cheeses in the US could be deceptively labeled. [url]
Cellulose is a common food additive, so if you saw headlines of "wood pulp in cheese" -- it's nothing new, really. It's not sawdust, and food scientists have tried to source cellulose from non-wood plants, but it's not as easy to get. Cellulose has been used as an anti-clumping agent in baking, and the food industry claims it provides a healthy source of dietary fiber. [url]
The adulteration of food stuffs has been a tempting way to increase profits since forever. Olive oil was once the most adulterated agricultural product in the EU in 1997-1998. Olive oil is easy to dilute with cheaper oils and has been tampered with as far back as ancient Greece, and adulteration can be difficult to detect -- even with modern chemistry. [url]

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Filed Under: cellulose, cheese, dietary fiber, fda, food, food additives, food safety, olive oil, parmesan, wood pulp
Companies: castle cheese

11 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 19 Feb 2016 @ 5:25pm

Yum.
Anything that says "100% real" anything... probably isn't.
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- John Fenderson (profile), 20 Feb 2016 @ 7:40am
  
  Re: Yum.
  Everything that exists is real by definition.
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A Nony, 19 Feb 2016 @ 5:42pm

100%
Saw "100& apple juice (plus other ingredients)" WTF!
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- Anonymous Coward, 20 Feb 2016 @ 5:38am
  
  Re: 100%
  They have to use 100& because they can't use 100%.
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Anonymous Anonymous Coward, 19 Feb 2016 @ 5:58pm

Spectrum of Lying
Corporations paid congress for the right to lie, so they do. But they aren't the only ones who lie. Government does. Law enforcement does. Courts do. The only ones left who aren't allowed to lie are us, and so help you if you do and are caught, where they will lie to convict you as well.

Oh, and grow your own food, only way to know what IS in it.
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Mr Big Content, 19 Feb 2016 @ 8:55pm

I Only Eat Chemical-Free Food
All this carbon and nitrogen and hydrogen cant be good for you. Carbon monoxide is so poisonous, is dihydrogen monoxide really GAURANTEED safe? Think of how much it hurts the next time you hit your head on an iron bar, do you really want iron in your food? Will does ascorbic acid corrodes your stomach lining? Why take the chance?
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- art guerrilla (profile), 20 Feb 2016 @ 6:49am
  
  Re: I Only Eat Chemical-Free Food
  y-e-a-h-h-h-h...
  i get the schtick, but not sure how far you are taking it...
  molecular compounds do not necessarily equal 'chemical', especially in the sense MOST people use it MOST of the time...
  i am pretty sure MOST of us are *at least* concerned, if not paranoid about WHATEVER food additives/adulterants are used to process 'our' foodstuffs...
  it is NOT that some chemical admixtures may not be -on balance- beneficial and we would definitely 'vote' for them, IF WE KNEW WHAT WE ARE 'VOTING' ON ! ! !
  BUT, we do NOT trust Big Agra, etc, because they have put profits before honor... they do not DESERVE trust, and the wiser default position would be to discount/distrust EVERYTHING they claim, since it is impractical to impossible to parse out what is true/untrue in their propaganda...
  ...or you could try breathairianism, and see how far that takes you...
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  - Jay, 21 Feb 2016 @ 8:23am
    
    Re: Re: I Only Eat Chemical-Free Food
    "molecular compounds do not necessarily equal 'chemical'"
    
    To the lay person maybe not. But that just shows how much people don't understand.
    
    You think Mr Big Content is being over the top, and he is, but I've had my college students tell me similar things. "I don't want chemicals in my food or in my body"...apparently my students are on a steady diet of vacuum.
    
    Also, molecular compounds that we ingest frequently...like caffeine? Not a chemical? C'mon...
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- JEDIDIAH, 20 Feb 2016 @ 10:21am
  
  Re: I Only Eat Chemical-Free Food
  Tell you what...
  
  Why don't you partake heavily of carbon monoxide and get back to us.
  
  Better yet, just over indulge in Iron supplements.
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  - art guerrilla (profile), 20 Feb 2016 @ 1:02pm
    
    Re: Re: I Only Eat Chemical-Free Food
    nice, you have anything to add, other than i should FOAD ? ? ?
    didn't think so...
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    - JEDIDIAH, 20 Feb 2016 @ 2:22pm
      
      Re: I Only Eat Chemical-Free Food
      Not quite. I was suggesting you follow your own rhetoric.
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