Various other things being done to our food that are not well known – by Ray Flores

With commentary added by Meryl Nass. We need to determine the safety of all these food additives.

… Here is what I see as the main hindrances to our achieving optimal national health by 2027.

…Food Ingredients

Pharma controls much of the FDA-approved vitamin ingredient, preservative, coloring, and additive market. Promoting healthier choices by banning harmful ingredients is difficult since big pharma is implicated.

Growth hormones for cattle and sheep

Since the 1950s, the FDA approved steroid hormone drugs such as natural estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and their synthetic versions. It is impossible for me to believe these alterations don’t negatively impact our health.

Bovine Growth Hormones

Bovine somatotropin (bST) is an FDA approved drug to increase milk production in dairy cows. The FDA determined that milk and meat from these cows is safe for humans to eat.

Food Irradiation

Unbelievably, FDA approved gamma rays emitted from radioactive forms of the element cobalt (Cobalt 60 is a byproduct of a nuclear reactor) or of the element cesium (Cesium 137 produced by nuclear fission in nuclear reactors), X-rays produced by reflecting a high-energy stream into food, or a high-energy electron beam propelled from an accelerator into foods including: beef and pork, crustaceans, fresh fruits and vegetables, lettuce and spinach, poultry, seeds for sprouting, shell eggs, shellfish, spices and seasonings.

[I think there may be a third form of irradiation used for food. Foods are supposed to be labelled when irradiated (for shelf life extension of course) but I have never been able to find the Radura logo on foods.—Nass)

Pasteurization

Ultra-high temperature processing (UHT) is an FDA-approved food processing technology that sterilizes liquid food by heating it above 284 °F.

Pascalization

HPP is a non-thermal food preservation technique using intense pressure for a certain time to preserve juice for up to 60 days. Commercial cold-pressed juices are not raw, but the public believes that this juice is made through a pressing method. It is not.

[Some juices are kept very cold and stored in large vats up to 2 years!—Nass]

Pesticides

The EPA and the FDA share responsibility for the oversight of pesticide chemical residues in food. The EPA also establishes tolerances, and the FDA enforces them.

GMOs

GMO is the common term that describes foods that have been created by genetic engineering. The list of GMO crops is extensive.

[While most GMOs are “Roundup-Ready (glyphosate tolerant to enable glyphosate to be used on them), non-GMO crops like oats and wheat are often sprayed with glyphosate to make all the plants dry up for harvesting at the same time. Learn about glyphosate’s wide-ranging downstream effects on health here. The next most common GMO crop is corn, bred to include the gene to make Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxin, which toxin we eat when we consume corn products.—Nass]

[Coatings like Apeel: They extend shelf like, do not wash off, contain unknown ingredients, were designated “GRAS” which means no testing for safety was required, and are used (usually unlabelled) even on apples (which already have a long shelf life), avocados and many other fruits and vegetables. Chitosan-containing coatings are used on romaine lettuse and other products.—Nass]

[Novel additives: Bovaer, a new product that is used to reduce cows’ methane belches, reduces fertility in male humans. Presumably we consume it in the milk from treated cows. Bret and Heather covered it today—Nass]

Lobbying

Interest groups spent a record $4.2 billion lobbying federal lawmakers in 2023, led by the pharmaceutical and health products industries. OpenSecrets estimates health companies spent over $739 million for the year.

DSHEA

Under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA), the FTC and the FDA share jurisdiction over the marketing of herbs and dietary supplements. They took away the ability of dietary and herbal supplement manufacturers to convey truthful information that their products can treat, cure, or prevent any disease. What is permitted is ‘window dressing’ that only describes how a nutrient or dietary ingredient affects the normal structure or function of the human body.

What must be done?

An outright prohibition on the standard unhealthy lifestyle is out of the question. Radical changes could wipe out entire industries. Action must not only be precise, but must remain cognizant that a half of a century of bad choices cannot be easily erased in two years.

Although well intended (I hope) most of the standard suggestions will have a negligible impact at best if these lesser-known culprits are ignored. Rather than initiate a congressional investigation on the harms of breakfast cereals, I hope these issues are thoroughly examined.