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.
The yellow dye contains salicylates. Salicylates are found I most processed foods. Many people have an intolerance to salicylate. Asprin is salicylate. Asprin can cause death. This is the reason asprin is not given to children. Symptoms include: Physical Symptoms:
Itchy skin, hives or Rashes 8
Stomach pain/upset stomach 7
Asthma 7
Headaches 6
Swelling of hands and feet 5
Breathing difficulties 5
Bed Wetting 5
Mouth Ulcers or raw hot red rash around mouth 5
Persistent cough 5
Frequent need to urinate/urgency to pass water 5
Wheezing 4
Changes in skin color/skin discoloration 4
Swelling of eyelids, face and lips 4
Fatigue 4
Sore, itchy, puffy or burning eyes 4
Watering eyes 4
Anaphylaxis (this is very rare, but deadly) 3
Sinusitis 3
Diarrhea 2
Nausea 2
Chronic sweating or no sweating 2
Aching Muscles and joints 2
Congestion 2
Nasal polyps 2
Chest pains
Ringing in the ears
Low platelet count
Acne
Addictions
Arthritis
Athlete’s foot
Bad Breath
Blackouts
Bloating
Blood sugar problems
Blurred vision
Breast pain
Catarrh
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Coated tongue
Colitis
Constant Hunger
Constipation
Crawling sensation on skin
Difficulty in Swallowing
Dizziness
Eczema
Excessive thirst
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Itching
Itchy and red ears
Joint Pain, stiffness and swelling
Lethargy
Menstrual problems
Metallic taste
Migraine
Cramps
Muscle tremors
Muscle weakness
Nasal Congestion
Palpitations
Poor balance
Post-nasal drip
Pre-menstrual problems
Racing pulse
Recurring ear infections
Restless legs syndrome
Sensitivity to light and noise
Feeling drained
Flushes
Food cravings
Gall bladder problems
Gritty feeling in eyes
Heavy body odor
High/low blood pressure
Indigestion – recurring
Insomnia
Sleep disturbances
Sore tongue
Stiff neck
Styes
Temperature fluctuation
Thrust
Tics
Tinnitus
Urticaria
Vertigo
Weight problems
Mental and Behavior Symptoms:
Hyperactivity 6
Memory loss 5
Poor concentration 5
Cognitive and perceptual disorders 3
Depression 2
ADD 2
Irritability 2
Central Nervous system depression
Accident prone
Anxiety
Anger for no apparent reason
Behavioral problems
Blankness
Brain fogging
Changes in handwriting
Clumsiness
Confusion
Delusions
Detached or unreal feeling
Difficulty waking up
Disorientation
Dyslexia
Feeling of dissociation
Fidgetting
Hallucinations
Hearing without comprehension
Inability to think clearly
Indifference
Math and spelling errors
Mental exhaustion
Mood swings
Panic attacks
Phobias
Poor self image
Poor memory
Reading problems
Restlessness
Slow processing information
Slurred speech
Stammering
Suicidal feelings
Tenseness
Uncontrollable rage
Weepiness
Withdrawal
http://salicylatesensitivity.com/info3/
Yellow dye #5 can be found in a multitude of products.
Thank you Lisa Leake and Vani Hari. Also, thank you to all the broadcasters and Dr. Oz for bringing this issue to the public.
The Food and Drug Administration needs to take action and remove the toxins from foods.
A side note: Think of all the medical costs incurred (doctor visits,tests, hospital stays, medications). All the days lost from school and work.
One more comment. I have learned through experience. Last year, at the age of 62, I finally discovered what was making me ill since childhood. No child, with the technology we have today to communicate, needs to spend a lifetime sick.
Glucose syrup is also typically corn syrup.
i’m not so sure I’d want the Betty Crocker UK versions either; the red velvet cake has Propane 1,2 diol, which is used in antifreeze and hydraulic fluids, and the icing contains titanium dioxide.
I had no idea there were such discrepancies between countries in equivalent products! Thank you for this article. I don’t eat a lot of processed foods by it certainly makes me think twice about my cereals and anything that might be genetically modified.
I am from the UK, and I am very sceptical about how honest food labels are, both in the US and UK.
One notable example being the McD’s fries. The label you have on your site lists an horrendous amount of, unnecessary, ingredients, and the UK’s list is minimal. However, I know of UK farmer who now refuses to grow McD grade potatoes because of the effect that the ‘fertiliser’ was having on the rest of their non McD crops. My farmer friends do not allow their children to eat from this or similar food chains, because of their experience, and ability to grow and eat natural foods from their farm!!
In the UK, we too are brainwashed to believing that diet/low calorie/low fat foods are ‘good’ foods, yet we have a soaring obesity rate.
The general public are slowing being weaned on fast foods and chemicaled filled packaged foods. Eating good healthy natural, cook from fresh foods, are not promoted with the same ferocity.
I agree that it is a travesty that US consumers are being fed and brainwashed with these foods, but don’t look at the UK as a positive example of food production, we are just blissfully unaware that we are being poisoned from the inside out!!
Well done for raising these issues. Knowledge is POWER!
Time for class action suits.
Stupid….these companies don’t force us to eat/buy their product, we make the choice ourselves to eat like crap and be the worst country with being overweight
We do have a choice, if we are educated, if we can afford it, and if we are the adult in the family. Children must eat what they are given. They do not have this choice.
I am the mom of a child who began throwing up violently after certain events (birthday parties, family gatherings, football tailgates), around the age of 4. At first we thought it was because he was overeating, but close monitoring didn’t fix the problem. Then we thought maybe he was allergic to certain party foods, maybe hot dogs. Cutting that out didn’t fix the problem. I began doing extensive research online and reading upon food allergies. Somehow we realized that every time he was sick, certain processed foods were involved– i.e. orange food. As Clemson fans we tailgated with giant cookies iced in orange, at birthday parties he would have orange soda or storebought cupcakes, at family gatherings there could be Easter candy, or a birthday cake with colored icing. Over a long time (which included many, many, many episodes of vomiting) we narrowed it down to yellow food dyes. Once we cut them out, the episodes stopped. I asked our pediatrician about it, and he didn’t know much about it, but referred us to the allergist, who only had peripheral knowledge, and told us it wasn’t a TRUE allergy, but known as an INTOLERANCE. The truth was that for all those years, our son was getting severe migraines on top of the vomiting, but as a small child, wasn’t able to communicate that.
It has been hard to eliminate yellow 5 and 6 from our family diet… some of the food treats he loved the most had to go– Frito Lay Honey BBQ twists, Doritos, orange soda, all candy with the colors of green, yellow, and orange like Skittles and M&M’s (sometimes white, too). Most cake mixes, most canned frostings, Kraft mac and cheese, some crackers, most BBQ chips, Cheetos, sprinkles on ice cream, even his favorite Girl Scout Cookie. We were a healthy family who ate homemade and nonprocessed food for the most part, but I’m also a good old American mom who would fall back on Mac and Cheese on a busy night and let snack bags of Doritos and Cheetos into school lunch boxes, too. As he moved through elementary school the other moms learned about his intolerance and party foods were homemade without dyes (once a fellow mom made a whole cake and iced it, then realized it had yellow 5 in the mix and threw it in the trash and made another one at midnight). Then two years ago our school district banned homemade foods in classrooms. This totally sucked for him. He couldn’t EVER eat what was brought in– it’s all processed grocery store bakery items with colorful frosting, or Krispy Kreme pumpkin donuts with orange frosting, or Little Debbie Snack Cakes. He finally made it to middle school this year and we are past all that now!
I have seen many changes since we first figured all this out when he was maybe 5 or 6… the natural chips have come a long way, and we can get pretty good replicas of Doritos (Tias), although classic Doritos still have yellow 5. He learned he can pick through M&M’s for the blue, red, and brown ones, but last year consumed half a bag of valentine m&Ms before he realized the white ones had yellow 5 (why?). I continue to read labels religiously because many foods that USED to have yellow 5 and 6 don’t contain it any more. We have added lots of things back into his diet as food manufacturers replace the artificial dyes with natural ones. This year I noticed he can eat his favorite girl scout cookies again. YAY! We finally got a Whole Foods in our city where I can get yummy “bakery cakes” with natural dyes. Trader Joe’s opens here in 2 weeks– no artificial dyes in the whole store.
If you do the research, you will learn how dangerous these food dyes are for all of us. They are nasty, nasty, additives whose full effects just aren’t understood yet. Our whole family does eat healthier because we have eliminated so many processed foods, but dang it, sometimes Kraft Mac and Cheese tastes so good! The food lobby in the US is very very powerful, but if we work together we can effect change. I’d like to help you in any way possible with your efforts– you can contact me at the email address I provided privately. Thanks for the petition! Let’s make a new one for DORITOS!!!
I see several “ingredient” products in red that you have demonized as unfit, unhealthy and dangerous. Some of these ingredients are used in most every product produced yet you are pointing fingers at certain companies. Corn starch? Corn syrup? You know as well as I do that used in moderation, these items are as harmless as the ingredients on the UK list. The PROBLEM in the US is that parents don’t monitor how MUCH their children eat and want someone to blame. For pete’s sake, don’t buy the product! Stop trying to play the victim as if they are forcing these items down your throats! Take a list with you and read the labels, if you don’t like the ingredients, DON’T BUY THEM.
Give me a break. I don’t buy the products. And there is no moderation in food dyes. Even a tiny amount makes my son sick, and there are times I can’t know what is in the food he eats. We are the victims if these food companies know the additives are dangerous and use them anyway. We are the victims of the enormously powerful food lobby that has stopped these dyes from being banned here in the US when they are banned in many other countries. Don’t point fingers until you’ve walked a mile in my shoes– my son is intolerant of yellow food dyes and it has been a long 7 years since we figured this out.
I don’t buy any of thos products (notice I did not say food) because of the artificial ingredients. If I want “strawberry flavor” in my oatmeal, I open a bag of frozen strawberries and put some in. (The heat from the cereal thaws the strawberries. The cold from the strawberries cools the cereal.)
I want a cake, I bake a cake from scratch, as it is neither hard nor expensive, nor time consuming. (It takes about 20 minutes to mix and an hour to cook. I use the cooking time and do other things.)
If I want potatoes, I’ll cook a few. (With the peels on, as that has more nutrients that way.)
My husband is a pastor and started at a new church a couple of weeks ago. Members have been blessing us with a “pantry shower”. We have gotten several boxes of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. We have decided to toss the powder, as it’s not real food anyway, and keep the white pasta. (When we buy pasta, it’s 100% whole grain or 100% whole wheat.) We’ll use the pasta with either pasta sauce, or cheese from the local meat market (my husband and five-year-old eat this) or shredded Diaya vegan rice milk cheese or vegan rice milk cheese slices for our two-year-old and me. Not as healthy, but by dinner time they will have each had four or five slices of whole wheat bread or whole wheat crackers…
If people didn’t buy the stuff, it wouldn’t get made. Unfortunately, though, there are people who know that junk “food” is quite unhealthy, but still eat it anyway. (My in-laws are a good example. I visted them on Saturday and poked through the poorly organized fridge looking for baby carrots. Nothing. Meat, sour cream, cheese, cottage cheese apple sauce ruined with high fructose corn syrup, milk, soda, candy… There was some leftover canned fruit and half of an apple, but those were for my kids. They did have bananas on the kitchen table at least.) While we don’t have many vegetables in our fridge, we do have a chest freezer and fridge freezer stocked with frozen vegetables and fruit. I’m digressing…
We have also receieved other foods that we don’t normally buy (The Campbell’s tomato soup with the corn syrup, white pasta…) but we’ll use them the best we can.
This is a real shocker. I have been attempting for years to learn to grow more of my own foods (veggies/fruits) and its my objective to learn to bulk can.
Unfortunately, I feel the only way to truly know your food is to eiter grow your own, get you to and use your local butcher, and bake your own “breads”. Keeping it local takes it out of the big corps hands (to a point) and distributors like WalMart, Kmart, and such.
Food is just chemicals that the body needs to supply it with energy and repair itself. The gut is a general purpose chemical factory that breaks down the chemical mix that is put into it so that the body can use the products of the reduction. It does not matter what you put into it as long as it can be reduced to useful chemicals there.
Remove the emotion from the equation. All the foods we eat are genetically modified by thousands of years of selective breeding and chemical manipulation by humans. Direct gene changes are just faster and more targeted.
Without genetic modification of wheat to make it storm reisitant and modern fertilizer production from natural gas and oil in the early 1970s over a billion people would have starved in India alone.
When you cook and mix foods you cause chamical changes in it – even adding carcogins when it is chared on the grill for example. Cooking breaks down the food and recombines it into other compounds before you eat it. Alcohol is poisonous and causes everything from heart disease, obesity, and violence…
There is absolutly too much corn sugar, salt and fats in American food, far, far too much. There is too much emotional manipulation by food companies to get people to buy food they do not need and eat too much. The fats and sugars are part of the psycological tricks that the companies use. But, it is not the governments job to control that – people who read this column are changing their diets and if people stop buying certain processed foods and demand changes those changes will happen without any laws or regulations.
If harmful ingredients are found then the government should step in and outlaw them. Same goes for false claims or fraud by food companies.
I agree with your column from many reasons, including the most important – giving people information so that they can make informed decisions for themselves. But I do not agree with emotional manipulation on either side of the argument with unproven conclusions – like all GMO is bad or all additives are bad. Just the facts, maam.
I can surely relate to this and I’m happy to see more is being done to try to stop companies from using Yellow #5 which is coal tar waste. My son who is now thirteen is allergic to it and has been since he first starting consuming solid foods as in infant. People thought I was crazy. It was awful!!! He had to be tested for ADHD which he never had. After consuming it, He would bounce off the walls and hyperventilate. His cheeks would get beat red and after consuming enough of it, he would have problems breathing. He also had asthma from it and was hospitalized with pneumonia after eating a decent amount of Cheez Doodles. He got to the point as a toddler when he told me he would feel “funny” after eating something with Yellow #5. After keeping track of his diet and all the ingredients in the foods he was consuming, I figured out it was Yellow #5 and since he stopped consuming it, he never ever needed an inhaler or had any problems. It was a long road and he hasn’t had this coloring for about 8 yrs. now. I will not buy products from any companies that use it as they are too cheap to use annatto or turmeric. Other countries have banned it. Why can’t we?
wow!!! and to think my grandkids are eating this crap gets me pissed that companys can get away with this crap ..hey im all for helpn to get the word out about this companys that take us the consumers for a ride well not no more !!COUNT ME IN !!!!!!
This is one of the biggest problems in our country and it goes unnoticed by so many people, its terrifying! If you’re as compelled as I am to take action here’s an event you should attend:
Eat-In at the FDA to demand GMO Labels
April 8th 8am-6pm
more info:
http://www.occupymonsanto360.org/2013/02/26/eat-in-at-the-fda-to-label-gmos/
you can either find a bus from your area or start your own and enable others to come out and support! We need as big a crowd as possible to show the FDA we are serious and that they can’t ignore us any more, as they have done to the tons of petitions they have received regarding GMO labeling.
I’m a bus captain for the Ann Arbor, MI area btw so if you’re looking for a ride let me know!
Our FDA is sleeping on the job. Or bought out by Big Pharma or Big Agri. Some officials on the FDA board were employees of big Pharma and Big Agri and that’s no accident. Americans deserve better!!!
Thank you soooo much for your dedication and getting the word out. I heard about the Kraft mac & cheese story tonight on the news and almost immediately checked it out on the computer and found you, and signed the petition. I also subscribe to the Organic Consumers Assoc. and found out recently that the organic pears and apples I buy probably have been sprayed with antibiotics to prevent fireblight, and that producers are allowed to use them. And let’s not even get started on GMO’s and Monsanto. What are we to do?
Thank you so much for doing this investigation!! This should all be headline news. We must keep fighting for protecting our safety and sadly eating American food is not safe at all! Keep up all your great work!
Finally found (sort of) a way to contact you! I have lots of food allergies. Couple of weeks ago made ONLY a burger (no bun) and Grey Poupon (made by Kraft). W/in 5 mins itchy eyes, then they swelled, had to call 911. In the ambulance my veins were shutting down fm the anaphylaxis. Long story short, turns out NOT ALL THE INGREDIENTS ARE LISTED ON THE LABEL!!! I wanted to email you all directly, can’t figure out how. How do I know this? I contacted Kraft. They’ve emailed me more ingredients. I still have the jar, I have their emails. Each time they email me, more ingredients come out. Also, found out in the U.S., they have to list Soy, NOT soybean OIL. I’m highly allergic, THANKS U.S. Atty says my damages aren’t enough for a case, but I could be the named plaintiff in a mass tort. Anyone interested? I’ve been tested for food allergies, didn’t think I was at danger of dying because companies didn’t list the ingredients!
Thank you for the information. I had no idea what I was actually eating! I think these companies will see a steep decline. I was a bigh macaroni and cheese person.
I agree that foods are altered when the shouldn’t be. I am just as concerned about chemical additives. We do have the choice of not eating these foods. Mac and cheese is easy to make so that if you wish to stay away from these additives of food coloring, make it yourself. I believe this site is being used for the wrong purpose many times. Why did you choose Kraft when all of the big food companies are doing the same. List them all if you want to make an impact. I will not sign for this reason.
So you won’t support the IDEA just because this page isn’t an encyclopedia that lists 50 food corps and has ingredient comparisons for 10 of their products each? You have to start somewhere and sometimes picking and focusing on “battles” is how you eventually win the “war”. Honestly if you were that concerned as you say, you wouldn’t be splitting hairs over which evil food corp to highlight first. You’re discrediting her research too. If you think that there’s no impact by only listing the follies of one company’s products, where’s YOUR list?
Hi there, I beleave a poster here mentione “Annies” macaroni and cheese. It is organic/no gmo’s ect.. Tastes great. For all of us out there that don’t have time or desire some days to cook a meal from scratch… There is Annies. Responsable company that has been around for years. You should give it a try at least :) Also HCHarry’s post march 8th was well said. Thanks HC ;) have great day u guys :)
“It is crazy how international companies feel comfortable making one version of their product for Europe, while having a far less healthy version for the US. ”
Good old American profiteering at work. Clearly there is a cost advantage, otherwise they would not use these product. As long as our companies are governed by CEO’s and boards driven to make their share holders more money, vs what is ethical, this will continue to happen.
It is crazy how international companies feel comfortable making one version of their product for Europe, while having a far less healthy version for the US. And often it’s US companies! It’s particularly telling when you see the ingredients side by side, as you have shown.
I wrote a little something a while back about the differences between the UK and US versions of Froot Loops. For that particular product, the differences are massive.
http://www.arksark.org/blog/5925/froot-loops-come-to-the-uk-i-compare-with-the-us-version/
Thank you for all your research. This is stuff that I knew but seeing it all put together on “paper” is astounding. I will mention one thing that left me questioning though. In your example of Starbursts,you show the “natural flavorings” in UK candy and say that they’ve found a way to flavor candy naturally. To me, that looks suspect. When I see “natural flavors” in an ingredient list here in the states I’m quite sure it’s a cover for something. The word natural on anything here doesn’t mean anything. It’s meant to make us think it’s better for us than it is. So, personally, I’d question that one a bit further. But thanks again. It’s all horrifying.
Heather
After years of suffering from headaches, I found out that I have what is called,”an intolerance’ to Red 40. After finding this out, i stopped eating foods with Red 40 and my headaches have pretty much disappeared. The dye is added to many foods. Thank you for putting this site together.
Thank you for the article. Americans need to be educated regarding the profits of big business and the lack of moral compass. A great starting point is to shop at Whole Foods. Read books by Kimberly Snyder and Natalia Rose. Buy organic – non GMO. I do and my arthritis and migranes are GONE! BTW – my 18 year old daughter is in London going to college. After two weeks of living there she called and said “the food tastes so good over here – something’s different”!
I’m SO HAPPY to have found you! After years of problems, we discovered (on our own) that one of our daughters is ‘allergic’ to food coloring, specifically Yellow 5. She gets migrianes and vomits from it. She is 15 now and has refused to eat ANY food coloring for years – she did a lot of her own research on the dangers of food coloring and is scared to consume any – and it is in EVERYTHING!!! I really want to join your fight against current US/FDA policy. It almost seems as if the United States wants people to become sick and die! How stupid are “we” as a country to allow such nonsense by our food companies? Please tell me how I can sign your petitions!
Thank you so much for posting this!! I really had NO idea, and was especially shocked at the Kraft mac and cheese, which, of course, has been a staple in our family with my kids since they were little!! I’ll start making my own now!!
I can’t eat processed and boxed foods, they make me feel off and I can taste the chemicals. Some don’t believe me but I can, it’s gross. This is why I make almost everything from scratch and very rarely eat out. It makes you wonder why it is so different. It also explains that when I went to Ireland a few years back some of the same foods tasted so much better over there than here. They don’t put all that unnecessary crap in it.
Whoever said that the regular people were expendable guinea pigs at the upper crust of society’s profits was sure not lying. They would poison their own people; but then again we are not the same, it is them against us (poor). Sounds like a revolution is needed. Remember
Marie Antionette?…
Having come from New Zealand to America I was always shocked by the amount of ingredients were listed on boxes of food even freshly Baked goods ,cheese(its suppose to be pale yellow!!) and the like and I’ve educated my wife on many of the things touched upon in this blog article. With obesity becoming an epidemic I see its effects every day working in the health field and it saddens me greatly to see my adopted home being like this. Your blog readers may be interested to know about portion size and calories as well, check out the McDonalds US website nutrition list and compare to the McDonalds.co.nz site most US burgers have 10% or more calories than their new Zealand equivalent for example the US hamburger 250 calories NZ Hamburger 218 calories and the iconic Big Mac 550 vs 494 and as regards portion size the US medium Coke is approximately the same size as the Large Coke in NZ 210 calories vs 216
One of the major reasons that this worked in Europe is not just the consumers but the fact that we have mostly a nationalised health system (everyone contributes a percentage of their wages and is insured).
Thus the health of the population is not a business, but is something that the state also strives to keep. So the regulatory agencies within Europe when it comes to food products actually looks at health issues and the results are lowered health care costs across the board, which means in the end for us, the consumer.
So, there is an interest not only by the consumer, but also by the state to keep these harmful “ingredients” out of the food chain (by the way, not just the human one, but the animal one as well).
just mind blowing . thank you for the info . Namaste Mink
Yeah, I signed the petition. And here’s what I said when asked why:
Because this is a start. Because we know that it’s all about demand and what consumers will buy. I lived in CA recently for two years. I used to buy Bulls Eye Barbecue sauce in Memphis flavor because it didn’t contain high fructose corn syrup. I came home to Michigan, and grabbed it without reading the label. But after eating it, my fibromyalgia pain was spiked, so I checked the label. Californians, being more health conscious, justify removal of HFCS for their region. But apparently our less aware Midwestern kids deserve to be fed the cheaper variety that contains HFCS. Appalling. I threw it out, and will not buy it again. This is just one example. Sadly, I’ve no doubt there are many, many more. Kraft, you should be ashamed.
–GlutenNaziMom
I’m with you! Together, we can make a difference…let’s do this!!!
Hi Food Babe. I live in Vancouver, BC. I’ve been reading, researching and sharing information for about five years on GMOs. If there’s anything I can in tandem with your efforts, just let me know. In the meantime, I’m going to post a note on all of the food producers that still include GMOs and additives in North American products, but no in other countries. Thank you for your efforts to get the information out.
Can we fight back against these corporations, perhaps create regulations to restrict these companies from taking advantage of our people for there profit. A human life should be worth more than this.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/more-regulations-and-restrictions-chemicals-additives-and-potentially-harmful-ingredients-our/rS1VCcR9
Don’t forget to mention the fluoride added to most municipal water supplies throughout the United States. Many studies have been conducted which show the direct link between fluoride supplementation and numberous health issues from acid reflux to cancer.
Another potentially dangerous ingredient not highlighted in the United States version of Betty Crocker Red Velvet cake is Sodium Aluminum Phosphate. I’ve read that higher aluminum levels are connected to Alzheimers. Do you have info on that? Thanks
This information needs to be spread to everyone each of us knows. Asking questions of our Whole Foods manager/staff, posting our responses, contacting our politicians, supporting GMO labelling initiatives. What is more important than our food sources?
Great article. I’m in on this crusade, where do I sign up!
Forget about exploiting any one, particular country – “they” are exploiting the whole entire planet, and in many different ways! Agricultural practices are the beginning, and just the ‘tip of the iceberg’, in their ‘crimes against humanity, the Earth, and ALL life! Labeling laws in various places may differ, but American-born, multi-national corporations have been exporting poisonous junk all over the globe for decades, and it’s getting rapidly worse! Learn about Codex Alimentarius, ASAP(!), if you don’t know about it already. You can watch a video explaining it at Natural Solutions Foundation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z6lZ8q3Z_o