DailyDirt: More 'All Natural' Ingredients Are Coming...
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
A bunch of food companies are pledging to remove artificial colors and flavors from their products. We mentioned before that Starbucks tried a different color for its drinks and had a slight problem. While the FDA says there's no link between artificial colors and any health issues, ultimately consumers are pushing for more natural ingredients and voting with their spending trends.- Kraft changed its recipe for macaroni and cheese to remove the artificial preservatives and dyes -- without telling anyone. And... no one noticed the switch (and over 50 million boxes were sold). Kraft announced the "new and improved" recipe, hailing it as a success. However, doesn't that just mean no one reads ingredient labels (or that the labels are so vague/inaccurate that the ingredients can change without anyone knowing)? Essentially, if no one can taste the difference, Kraft just proved you can sell any set of ingredients without telling anyone. Soylent Green may contain some natural and/or artificial flavoring? [url]
- Reducing the preservatives added to food might involve changing the packaging that holds the food. Bread packaging with nanodroplets of oregano and clove essential oils can help keep bread free of mold -- for more than 2 weeks! [url]
- Mars candies (e.g., M&Ms, Skittles, etc) are all going to ditch artificial coloring in the next five years. So instead of seeing ingredients like "FD&C Red 40" -- we might see names like E120, which are already being used in the EU. [url]
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: artificial coloring, coloring, dye, food, ingredients, nanodroplets, preservatives
Companies: fda, kraft, mars, starbucks
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
nano-foods
> essential oils can help keep bread free of mold
> -- for more than 2 weeks!
The problem with nano-foods is that the effects of consuming them have barely been studied. A few years ago there was a big fad of consuming nano-milk because it led to much better absorption of calcium (about 10 times normal), thus leading to stronger teeth and bones. Great, except that evidence started to emerge that it greatly increased the chance of developing milk-alkali syndrome, which can cause kidney failure and death.
I have no idea if nanodroplets of oregano and clove essential oils is harmful. Apparently it kills bread mold. That's nice, but does it do anything harmful to intestinal flora? Without careful testing (which probably nobody is doing), we don't know. And that is the big problem with nano-foods - we are creating new substances and haven't tested them for safety.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This isn't to say other ingredients can't have the same issue, of course, but why anyone wants a petroleum based Dye in their FOOD is beyond me.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Frankenbread
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/the-shocking-truth-about -bread-413156.html
Even the French are going overboard for this crap. Yes, the French. The land of the crusty baguette, where finding the freshest loaf from the finest boulangerie is (was) the leading national pastime. If you're into healthy food, I recommend reading Andrew Whitley's "Bread Matters". Even if you never get to make your own, it shows just how much our food is being screwed with.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
added colors
>>beyond me.
If anyone was to add a color to food, petroleum-based dyes are far better from a toxicology perspective than a natural color. That's a fact, period. Mother nature isn't always as careful with how she builds a chromophore as we have learned to be, and many have tox properties that would not be permissible in a synthetic. With our logic-deficient systems, however, natural materials often get a pass where synthetic compounds would rightfully be barred as food additive.
However, adding a color to food just for the sake of appearance is ridiculous to me. Taste and texture matter to me, but I'm just as happy with a mottled red and green apple if it tastes good as one that polished and ruby-red. Actually, I'm happier with the former.
As for my qualifications, I did my PhD work in colorant studies, including studies to characterize functionalities that lead to and avoid toxicological concerns.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
FDA is a paid whore for the industry.
Additionally, there are a lot things that fall under that classification... Like Tylenol for example. People were taking it for years before people really figured out that liver damage might but your new worst friend if you take too much.
Like so many other things in this world the default stance from people that make your food and the DFA is this line of "no link" as justification to just stick all manor of shit into the food supply.
Most food coloring and other ingredients are only their to improve the appearance of food or shelf life but not the nutritive value.
People perish for lack of knowledge.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
We have a saying in Europe (well, maybe it was just my family) - if a product's 'E' numbers add up to over 1000, don't buy it; it's probably not good for you.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
100% Pure And Natural ...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Natural Maple flavored Quaker...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]