This is a guest post from Vani Hari (a.k.a. The Food Babe) and New York Times Best Selling author. You can read more about her take on the food industry in her second book, Feeding You Lies!
Thoughts of outrage, unfairness, disbelief, and ultimately grief consumed me while I was doing this investigation. A list of ingredients that are banned across the globe but still allowed for use here in the American food supply recently made news.
While I have written about some of those ingredients before, this list inspired me to look a little deeper and find out how pervasive this issue is for us. Could these banned ingredients be contributing to the higher mortality and disease rates here in the U.S.?
The health of Americans is downright grim according to a report just released by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council. It declares “Americans are sicker and die younger than other people in wealthy nations.” The United States spends 2.5 times more on health care than any other nation, however, when compared with 16 other nations we come in dead last in terms of health and life expectancy for men and near the bottom for women.
Here is the breakdown for you:
- More than two thirds of United States citizens are overweight – 33% being obese.
- 32% of children are either obese or overweight.
- 43% of Americans are projected to be obese in 10 years.
- After smoking, obesity is America’s biggest cause of premature death and is linked to 70% of heart disease and 80% of diabetes cases.
- And 41% of Americans are projected to get cancer in their lifetime!
These reports and statistics scream the word HELP!
Recently, I spent some time down in Mississippi volunteering in the most obese county in the nation. I found that while social and economic factors do play a part in this epidemic, the main culprit was the lack of nutrition education.
The victims of obesity are likely the same victims of systematic brainwashing from Big Food marketers, relying on diet soda or low fat products or looking only at calories on product labels. Basically, they are doing what the food industry has been teaching them about losing weight versus finding out the truth about real food.
And that’s the problem – the food industry is the one leading our conversation in this country about food and nutrition, educating the mass public about what to eat and what not to eat. Coca-Cola recently even went as far as creating a special campaign to combat obesity – yes you read that right – a sugar filled soda company trying to stop obesity. (You can read my reaction to that here).
Unfortunately, the doctors in this country are not exactly leading the discussion either, since nutrition is not currently a focus in medical school. And the government has their hands tied by big food industry and chemical company lobbyists that basically control what the FDA approves, deems safe for human consumption, and our overall food policy.
So who is going to finally tell us the truth about our food?
The food industry does not want us to pay attention to the ingredients nor do they care about the negative effects from eating them. They certainly don’t care about the astronomical medical bills that are a direct result of us eating the inferior food they are creating.
The HELP we need starts here. We as a collective nation must stop this trajectory of sickness and rising health care costs, by understanding the ingredients we are putting into our bodies. We must challenge the U.S. food industry to discontinue the use of banned ingredients that are not allowed elsewhere in the world. We deserve to have the same quality food without potential toxins.
Food is medicine, and plain and simple, if our food is sick (filled with GMO’s, chemicals, additives, artificial ingredients, and/or carcinogens), collectively we as a country are going to continue to be sick.
Using banned ingredients that other countries have determined unsafe for human consumption has become a pandemic in this country. To prove this point, I found the best and easiest place to look for evidence was just across “the pond” in the United Kingdom, where they enjoy some of the same types of products we do – but with totally different ingredient lists.
It is appalling to witness the examples I am about to share with you. The U.S. food corporations are unnecessarily feeding us chemicals – while leaving out almost all questionable ingredients in our friends’ products overseas. The point is the food industry has already formulated safer, better products, but they are voluntarily only selling inferior versions of these products here in America. The evidence of this runs the gamut from fast food places to boxed cake mix to cereal to candy and even oatmeal – you can’t escape it.
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Some of the key American brands that are participating in this deception are McDonald’s, Pringles (owned by Kellogg’s), Pizza Hut and Quaker (owned by Pepsi), Betty Crocker (owned by General Mills), Starburst (owned by M&M/Mars), and Ritz Crackers (owned by Kraft). In the examples below, red text indicates potentially harmful ingredients and/or ingredients likely to contain GMOs.
Having a pre-made box of flour, baking soda and sugar all ready to go saves time for some people when it comes to making a cake, but does saving time have to come at the expense of chemically derived and potentially toxic ingredients?
The United States version of Betty Crocker Red Velvet cake not only has artificial colors linked to hyperactivity in children, food cravings, and obesity, but it also has partially hydrogenated oils (a.k.a. trans fat). Trans fat has been shown to be deadly even in small amounts. “Previous trials have linked even a 40-calorie-per-day increase in trans fat intake to a 23% higher risk of heart disease.” This could easily be the amount of trans fat in one serving of Betty Crocker icing alone.
Sodium benzoate is an ingredient that Coca-Cola actually removed in their Diet Coke product overseas, but you’ll still find it in their product Sprite, cake mixes and loads of other products across the USA. The Mayo Clinic reported that this preservative increases hyperactivity in children. Also, when sodium benzoate combines with ascorbic acid (vitamin C), it can form benzene, a carcinogen that damages DNA in cells and accelerates aging.
Fast Food giants like McDonald’s and Pizza Hut are just as guilty as General Mills’ Betty Crocker.
Look closely at the ingredients in McDonald’s french fries above. Do you see how the french fries in the U.K. version are basically just potatoes, vegetable oil, a little sugar and salt? How can McDonald’s make french fries with such an uncomplicated list of ingredients all over Europe, but not over here?
Why do McDonald’s french fries in the U.S. have to have TBHQ, trans fat and “anti-foaming” agents? Correct me if I’m wrong, but the last time I checked – I didn’t think Americans liked foam with their fries either!
The anti-foaming agent – dimethylpolysiloxane – is a type of silicone used in caulks and sealants and as a filler for breast implants. It’s also the key ingredient in silly putty.
Thanks FDA for allowing companies to put silly putty in our french fries. Seriously – this is out of control.
McDonalds Strawberry Sauce in the United States includes high fructose corn syrup, red #40 and sodium benzoate, while the citizens of the U.K. get off scot-free. Instead, they get 37% real strawberries in their product and no additional flavoring or harmful preservatives.
Pizza Hut does a huge disservice to us (and their workers) by using Azodicarbonamide in their garlic cheese bread. This ingredient is banned as a food additive in the U.K., Europe, and Australia, and if you get caught using it in Singapore you can get up to 15 years in prison and be fined $450,000.
The U.K. has recognized this ingredient as a potential cause of asthma if inhaled, and advises against its use in people who have sensitivity to food dye allergies and other common allergies in food, because azodicarbonamide can exacerbate the symptoms.
However, Pizza Hut and many other fast food chains like Subway and Starbucks use this ingredient in their U.S. bread products.
Natural and artificial flavors and hidden MSG (in the form of autolyzed yeast extract, in this case) are commonly found throughout products in America but not elsewhere. Junk food companies intentionally add this combination of ingredients to create sensory overload by exciting your brain cells to remember the food you are eating and make less nutritious ingredients taste better to you.
I’m not saying that the food industry has completely eliminated these same tricks abroad – but when you look at the U.K. version of garlic cheese bread, the ingredients look pretty basic. Many of the ingredients you could use at home to make garlic bread. I’ve never found TBHQ in the baking aisle at the grocery store, have you?
TBHQ, by the way, is a preservative derived from petroleum and used in perfumes, resins, varnishes and oil field chemicals. Laboratory studies have linked TBHQ to stomach tumors. This preservative is also used by Chick-Fil-A in their famous chicken sandwiches.
Reviewing the ingredients in Pringles really got me worked up….ever wonder why you can’t stop eating chips after having just one? MSG is the culprit – and in the U.S. version of Pringles, it’s added twice! Once in its known name and again in a hidden source, called “yeast extract.”
This begs the question “Why are Americans so addicted to processed food?!” The food industry has designed it that way on purpose to line their pockets with profits, at the expense of our health.
The U.K. Ritz Crackers ingredient list resembles items that you’d find in every household around the country – but the United States version goes the extra mile to include trans fat, HFCS and natural flavor. Natural flavor can be also be a hidden form of MSG, which, again, is an additive that will likely make you eat more than you would otherwise.
In the United States, Quaker Oats has several different flavors of oatmeal that contain different fruit flavored, artificially dyed pieces of dehydrated apple but that don’t actually contain any of the fruit shown on the package. But in the U.K. – they don’t even attempt to sell that garbage. They instead have a product called “Oats so Simple” that actually has REAL strawberries in it – light years ahead of our version that includes trans fat, artificial food coloring, and artificial flavors.
There’s only one difference in Rice Krispies between the U.S. and U.K. version – but it’s a big difference. It’s one ingredient that is banned virtually in every other country, except here in the United States. That ingredient is called BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) or BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and is a very common preservative used rampantly throughout packaged food in the U.S.
Test studies published by the IPCS (International Program for Chemical Safety) “show tissue inflammation, enlargement, and/or growths in 100%, and cancer in 35% of [animal] subjects” as reported in this article. How can the U.S. allow this chemical in our food – much less in cereal aimed and targeted at our kids?
And speaking of targeting our kids – food companies have found a way to naturally color candy all over Europe, but our candy here is still full of artificial substances made from petroleum and GMO sugar. Looking at the ingredients in Starburst Fruit Chews provides a great example of this disgrace.
I saved the most startling fact for last. One very cautionary set of ingredients that are included in almost all of the American products but not the U.K. products are GMO’s, in the form of either corn or soy.
There have been no long term human studies on GMOs and preliminary studies on animals show horrific consequences. For instance, a study showed GMOs caused toxic and allergic reactions, sick, sterile, and dead livestock, and damage to virtually every organ studied in lab animals.
Another study revealed that female rats fed GMO soy for 15 months showed significant health issues in their uterus and reproductive cycle, compared to rats fed organic soy or those raised without soy. A 2009 French Study concluded that Glyphosate (used on GMO soy) can kill the cells in the outer layer of the human placenta, the organ that connects the mother to her fetus, providing nutrients and oxygen and emptying waste products.
A Russian study conducted on hamsters that were fed GMO soy diets for two years over three generations found that by the third generation, most of the hamsters lost the ability to have babies, showed slower growth, and suffered a higher mortality rate.
In the U.K. food companies are required by law to list if a certain ingredient is derived from a genetically modified or genetically engineered material on the label. Out of all the products I researched, I couldn’t find one product with this label. (See example from GMO-Compass and BBC above of what it would look like if I did.)
This was very telling considering that not only have food companies taken out all sorts of hazardous chemical ingredients abroad – but they also have willingly reformulated their products without GMOs.
Food corporations in the U.S. claim reformulating their products to remove harmful ingredients or changing labels would be too expensive – but they’ve already done just that in Europe and in many other countries. Their governments listened to the outrage of their people and took the safety of their citizens’ health above everything else.
Is it too much to ask the same for us in the United States of America? How much do our sickness, obesity, and mortality rates have to worsen before they respond to us?
I will leave you with this note: Lisa and I are very disturbed about the shameful hypocrisy allowed to happen with our food supply here in the U.S. In fact we are feeling very compelled to do something about it. Stay tuned, because we are going to need every one of you to help when we are ready. In the meantime, I hope you’ll come check me out at Food Babe and also share this article (you can use the green ShareThis button below).
March 5th Update: Lisa and I have started a petition – please sign and share it now. Together we can make a change.
Comments have been closed on this article, which was written by Vani Hari. If you have a question or comment you can reach her at http://FoodBabe.com.
Dr. Oz had a couple of episodes that also brought some of these chemical additives to light.
Simple: vote with your feet. I know it’s not possible for everyone, but you can make a difference, however small.
Isn’t glucose syrup just HFCS with a deceptive name? Everything here (Canada)us labeled with glucose syrup instead of HFCS but I thought it was the same thing.
You should red light the canola oil (almost all US canola is gmo) and citric acid as well (commercially it does not come from citrus anymore but rather is made with Aspergillus niger bacteria grown on substrates that can be genetically modified).
I think there might be something you are overlooking. I don’t think the food labeling regulations are the same for the U.K. as they are here. I’m quite sure they are getting the same crap we do, only the label doesn’t list everything like they do here. Am I wrong?
I wonder how many if the coded-number ingredients are pure filth/chemicals/another name for a banned or harmful substance as well? Clean eating is the only choice.
Shouldn’t canola/rapeseed (ESPECIALLY in foods intended for frying) be listed in red, since all canola is GM and the rapeseed it is derived from is considered inedible?
I also caught some red flags with the vegetable fat/hardened vegetable fat? First off, vegetable fat? What? And second, hardened vegetable fat sounds a lot like partially hydrogenated vegetable oil to me.
Just my two cents.
Very interesting perspective. Thank you!
@ Susana, Glucose-Fructose syrup IS High Fructose Corn Syrup. They just use a that name for it in the UK. A lot of the foods listed on both sides of the comparisons are the same. In many of the examples displayed above, the difference is in the naming and labeling laws. Things like how oil is separated into it’s constituent components in the US side but not the UK side. That’s based on US rules. The UK oils could also be made from the same sources, but the rules for discrete disclosure are different.
This is a very deceptive article.
I couldn’t agree more with you. The most frustrating part is, that there were so many readers pointing out those obvious flaws and neither Food Babe nor Lisa & Jason see the necessity to react to it and re-do the article.
I modified this article and created a form letter to send to the FDA simplifying your ideas… TAKE ACTION and help FLOOD the FDA with letter expressing what the people they serve want- better quality control in our food! find the easy to copy and paste form letter here!
http://perfectmombooks.blogspot.com/
Vani,
have you seen this article? they are now looking at putting artificial sweeteners in our milk without listing them as ingredients. if we dont know they are in our milk, we cant even make a chocice as to drink them or not…
http://health.yahoo.net/experts/dayinhealth/artificial-sweeteners-milk#.UTDW8NRS3m4.email
Can you please post a list of foods, like cereals, crackers, etc. that don’t have all these chemicals that we could buy. My oldest eats a bowl of cereal for breakfast almost every day!
While I have enjoyed your organic recipes and articles I am noticing one thing from what I have read so far while following your blog. While your research seems to be there you don’t cite your work. That would make it more credible especially for new visitors.
Isn’t Glucose-Fructose syrup just as bad as High Fructose Corn Syrup?
With all due respect and sensitivity to your serious obesity crisis in the US, I have to chuckle whenever I read about Americans’ sudden eureka! moments when they figure out that Big Macs, Coke, Betty Crocker, and Twinkies are bad for them. I laugh even harder when they scream at their government, “How could you do this to us? We demand justice!”
There is a world of nutrition information at your fingertips, so why are millions of Americans willfully choosing to be fat, stupid and sick? Laziness. Pure and simple.
As the biggest consumerist nation on the planet, Americans have no one to blame but themselves for the obesity crisis. The food corporations have given them EXACTLY what American consumers have asked for: low price, convenience, and selection. YOU gave the food corps this incredible power each time one of you spent a buck on its poisonous garbage. The reason the EU bans this junk is because Europeans just don’t want to eat this way, we never really have, and we probably never will adopt America’s gluttonous, wasteful, have-it-your-way food attitude.
Expecting your government (USDA/FDA) to rush in at the final hour and rescue you with laws, regulations, bills and bans isn’t going to work. The food corps have these folks in their deep pockets. The only way to cut back on the obesity crisis is to slap that hamburger or can of soda out of an obese person’s hand when you see them eating it. It means that today, right now, you will no longer spend another dollar on ANYTHING that comes advertised in a package.
You are the solution to your own problem. Start taking personal responsibility for what you’re shoving in your mouths.
Well said
As an American, I totally agree!!!
That is twisting words. This article is about harmful chemicals, ingredients, and dishonesty when it comes to what goes into food in America. It’s not about “Oh hey! This is bad for me!” We’re not all tub of lards, and even then, most of us are WELL aware what is bad for us. Even if we don’t eat this on a regular basis there is NO excuse for food in any country to be sold with harmful and dishonest ingredients. You speak as if non-Americans don’t eat this crap. This stuff is everywhere as well. I’m sure there’s people in the UK buying boxed cake mix and chips. Hell, I have friends in England! I know one of them will never pass up an opportunity to eat cake, and another hardly even touches fruits and vegetables.
And I suggest you look more into produce sold in the US. Prices are ridiculous. Research shows that fresh produce prices have quadrupled in price since the 80s, while annual family incomes haven’t changed much. So nowadays, especially after the recession, many American family’s can’t even afford to feed their families meals with fresh ingredients. I doubt that it’s because they don’t want to.
Everything is so black and white with people.
Please quit criticing
Thank you so much for proving what I noticed while traveling in Europe. All the ingredients were different. I preach to whom ever will listen these truths you say here. I volunteered quite vigorously on Prop 37. Everything I personally could do by picketing busy street corners and Monsanto, booths at street fair, cold calling before election, standing outside of grocery store to hand out facts about GMOs and ALL the PROPAGANDA the no on 37 fed every minute of the day a month before the election. With news media lying to the masses to persuade there vote. And with 47 million dollars against people like me in the grass roots movement they beat us. But not fair and square. They sent out fake Democratic mailers saying not to label and vote no. Plain lying when Demos were yes. Crazy! that should be criminal but noooooooo just last week a farmer lost in supreme court against Monsanto with the judge being Clarence Thomas who is a Monsanto Guy. We must ban together and demand justice for our own health!
You are fantastic…I really admire you.
@ Tracy Salisbury “if it didn’t grow in the ground, or have a mother it isn’t food.” – OR HAVE A MOTHER??!!1 I find that casual throwaway attitude to torturing and killing other live creatures for one’s own satisfaction possibly even more disturbing. Surely that is the same attitude to respecting life and other creatures rights that is so prevalent in your food industry.
In many countries, what the US calls “high fructose corn syrup” is called “glucose-fructose”. In at least one case I saw in your article, you called out the US product for having HFCS, but actually both did.
The U.S. food corporations unnecessarily feed you? They won’t even feed me necessarily. I have to acquire and administer food myself.
Excellent article. I applaud your commitment and communication. Keep it up, I am grateful.
Thanks so much for this article. While I always knew I wasn’t alone, either in my own health experiences or in knowing that something just wasn’t right about our FDA and Big Food, it’s great to see that there are others out there who are willing to do something about it. Would definitely be interested in assisting with alerting other consumers to this heinousness.
Namaste!
Great article. Thanks to my cousin for posting this on her Facebook page.
This explains why food taste so different overseas. I’ve traveled quite a bit and would tell people that an apple in Greece does not taste like it does here, the McDonald’s in Paris taste so different, and the sea food in Japan has a different kind of texture and flavor. Well this is exactly why. Thank you for letting us know and now this proves that I am not that crazy. lol
I find it amazing that people are surprised that something that has a 12 year shelf life in a box has unnatural ingredients in it! I can make a meal for my family with fresh produce and meat, on a budget in about 20 minutes, and know every ingredient in it. It isn’t rocket science, if it didn’t grow in the ground, or have a mother it isn’t food. I have 3 healthy kids that are robust and smart, and go figure, they eat real food, not stuff from a box and it does not take anymore time or money. Probably less money since we don’t buy junk foods. They are teenagers now and we talked about eating at friends houses, they all agree, yuk! No taste, and most stuff is prepackaged or comes as carryout. I don’t know how people can even afford to eat like that or why they would want to, it isn’t faster and it certainly isn’t better, it’s not cheaper. You can bake a cake for about one dollar, and yum! I don’t get it.
You make some great points! I totally agree with you.
Just an idea: have you tried getting in touch with Michelle Obama, and sharing this information with her? It seems that getting Americans to eat healthy is one of her top priorities.
Thank you!
Looks like the UK products just call the same things something different, namely calling HFCS “Glucose Syrup” Same difference people. Instead of blaming nefarious food makers, just watch what you eat, or *gasp* make your own food.
In regard to the first product, why is modified corn starch “bad” in the US version but not in the UK version? Why are artificial flavors bad but not flavourings (which according to UK labeling laws are probably artificial, otherwise they would have used the word natural). Should it be mentioned that carmine, used for coloring, is produces from insect shells?
Doesn’t seem very thorough to me.
I read through this and I got really frustrated!
My dd is allergic to soy. So, what you’re telling me through all these lovely ingredient lists that you shared is that if we were to move to the UK she would be able to eat so many more things!
How completely frustrating! I do not agree with all the other stuff they put in foods! Just give us the good stuff.
Thank you for the research you did to write this and for sharing the ingredient lists.
I have been reading a lot lately,i.e., the past few years, and there is so much info on both sides of the aisle on any subject, it’s difficult to discern what’s correct. I tend to just stay away from foods with mulitple ingredients and foreign words to myself. I found this web page. Not sure if it’s credible or not and would just like to hear what you have to say.
http://www.schwartzlabs.com/food-additives.html
I’ve tried many times to get this to ‘share’ to my FB page, with no luck….any tips on how to get this to work? Thanks!
Hi Carrie, you can use the green “ShareThis” button at the bottom of the post. Alternately you can cut and paste the URL into a status update in Facebook.
Thank you for this article, it’s very comprehensive. On a regular day, my husband and I (no kids) don’t consume any of these type of foods. We’ve been very into nutrition research lately, and we’ve been disturbed as we’ve become familiar, we read all labels. This has completely changed our diet. We don’t buy many foods that come in a box anymore! If it says corn or soy we won’t buy it unless it’s organic anymore because of the insanity that happened here in California when the proposition was on the ballot to label GMOs. Monsanto spent a small fortune in lying scare tactics. Researching and seeing the lies made me think! It worked unfortunately- but because of it we decided we would no longer consume any potentially GMO food if we could avoid it. Mostly we eat fruit, veggies, lean meats (organic grass fed if we can get it). Grab and go food is a banana or an apple. We met the guy who raises the chickens who lay the eggs we eat. We go to a farmers market every weekend. It’s a whole different world- and yes it takes some getting used to, but it’s not that complicated once you’ve figured it out. People who feel overwhelmed should start by trying to avoid boxed food, get used to cooking meat and veggies. Then look at your next step! It’s a starting point anyway.
FDA is a joke. What poor poor standards they have. I would be ashamed to be a part of the FDA.
I dont understand why people are so scared of guns when its the corporations literally poisoning us to death every single day that are most likely to kill us.
The only thing I question are the laws regarding food labels and ingredients. There very well could be the same ingredients, but America may have more stringent requirements for labeling.
Also, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) estimates that 1 in 3 people will have diabetes by 2050. A number that is increasing in direct proportion to our obesity.
I cannot blame food labels all together. People are moving less and eating more. Families have less time and are working more. How do we make more time to exercise and cook wholesome, nutritious meals when work ends at approx 5pm, most people pick up their children, and either shuttle home or to another function. Unfortunately, the convenience of fast food is all too appealing to way too many people b/c of the time crunch.
We have to be real and accountable for our current state of affairs and not just focus on food labels/food at the culprit.
This article is excellent.
I’ve been dealing with brain cancer for over five years now. I believe the changes to my diet, along with regular exercise, have helped me remain strong and mostly healthy throughout some very rigorous traditional cancer therapy. With all I’ve learned, the problems mentioned in this article is just the tip of the iceberg.
Documentaries: Foodmatters, Forks over Knives, Vegucated, Farmaggedon…are a few good hours invested for a general overview of the many problems we face.
Big business, namely Pharma and Corporate Agriculture, run our FDA and USDA – it is the biggest hypocrisy I know of. The American citizen is just a pawn in the formula whose life or death means nothing to the billions of dollars shared by the powerful few.
In fact, our inevitable illness seems imperative for the continued success of a very evil plan.
Great article and information that absolutely needs to be more widespread.
One point that interests me (and that was not discussed), is that although the UK products are safer, the UK suffers from an obesity epidemic that very closely resembles ours here.
And yes, there are a variety of different factors as to why UK residents are also obese (i.e. their diet as a whole and other foods we may not eat in the states so regularly). Having lived in London for a time, I can attest to the over consumption of beer, ale, fish and chips, bangers and mash and other calorific/overly salted/fatty foods.
Point is, while the article is so important as to what we need to actively discourage, let’s not overlook that there are so many more food-related factors as to why obesity, disease, and early death run rampant.
What a great post; very well researched and informative! thank you! Unfortunately, I have also recently come to understand that this applies to skincare products as well. It might be worth another investigation, but apparently the US allows far more harmful chemicals in skincare products than most other countries do. To make matters worse, the US also tests these harmful chemicals on dogs who live their entire lives in laboratories, completely legally. It’s horrific! When will consumers in the US actually be able to look at a selection of products, food or otherwise, without thinking “which of these is the least bad for me, and the least bad for the world?” It’s appalling!
This article makes me sad, angry & frustrated. Not to mention disgusted.
How can the MEN & WOMEN (fellow human beings) who are supposed to look out for us, do this to us?! It’s unfuriating.
And I also wonder – has the food been tested abroad to be sure it is actually different & not just labeled differently so they can pass foreign regulation w/o actually making any changes?
Like high fructose corn syrup maybe labeled as “sucralose syrup” or whatever syrup they had listed up there?
I wouldn’t put it past them.
The food abroad is actually tested for this. Remember, most European countries have national health, which means the state actually cares about this, since they pay (ok, we pay, but make our contributions through taxes) for national health and thus the governments have a vested interest in it.
Medicine is made with petroleum products. Waxes and binding agents hold your little pills together. Majority of your food is GMO and has been for quite a while. Our health problems include the above mentioned food additives making us want more (yes, they at formulated to make you want more) but we also programmed to expect large portions. And the food doesn’t even have to taste that good and we still want a large portion.