6 Things Big Food Companies Don’t Want You To Know
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It’s pretty easy to become brand-loyal, especially in the United States where ads and marketing tactics have become fixtures in our lives. We’re constantly told to believe one thing, but sometimes the opposite is true. Big food companies have developed all kinds of techniques to convince us we’re eating food that’s safe and even good for us, but there are a bunch of loopholes in the food industry. Here are six things big food companies don’t want you to know.
1. Wood Pulp Is Common In Your Food
Although you won’t find the term “wood pulp” proudly listed on your ingredients label, big food companies might list ingredients like “powdered cellulose,” which is derived from wood pulp. Cellulose has been an FDA-approved food additive since 1973. The wood pulp-derived ingredient in a lot of our processed foods is used to provide structure and extend the shelf life of products. You’ll find cellulose in things like salad dressing, granola bars and frozen pizza. You can find out which other foods have cellulose here.
2. Your Food Can Legally Contain Maggots
While the thought of finding live maggots in your food might seem like grounds for a lawsuit, it turns out the FDA allows it. According to the FDA’s sanitation standards, food processors are allowed to have a small number of insects in food. You’re most likely to find maggots in canned goods like canned fruit juices, canned mushrooms and canned tomatoes, so if possible stick to carboard-contained items.
3. Your Olive Oil Could Be Lower-Grade Oil
Olive oil is one of those staples that tempts you, but you could live without it if you needed to. It’s a commodity that the government reports is at high risk for being tampering with. Since most people look to olive oil for its health benefits and flavor, make sure you’re buying legit olive oil. Some olive oil producers might dilute their products with older and sometimes rancid oils that won’t hold up on the shelves for long. To be on the safer side, you should stick with extra virgin olive oil instead.
4. Bottled Tea Doesn’t Have The Same Amount Of Antioxidants As Freshly Brewed Tea
Freshly brewed tea is often associated with certain health benefits like antioxidants, but bottled tea won’t provide you with the same degree of the good stuff. Bottled tea contains very low levels of polyphenols, a dietary plant that’s considered an antioxidant. Studies show that long-term consumption of polyphenols helps to prevent the development of cancers, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, osteoporosis and neurodegenerative diseases.
Since consumers tend to prefer less bitter flavors, the bottled tea you’ll find is often diluted, which means fewer benefits compared to freshly brewed tea. You’d have to drink way more bottled tea to compete with the benefits of freshly brewed tea.
5. Multigrain Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Healthier
The term multigrain is a brilliant marketing tactic used by big food companies to make consumers feel like they’re making a healthier decision with their bread. In reality, multigrain doesn’t mean the same thing as whole grain. Multigrain might just mean different versions of the same unhealthy refined grains. You can’t assume that the grains in your multi-grain bread are all whole grains.
6. Red Dye #4 Comes From Insects
There are a ton of foods that you consume with red food dye and you might not enjoy its origins. A lot of red dye that’s used in food is made from crushed bugs called cochineal insects. These bugs are usually found on prickly pear cacti in the North Amerian deserts. Cochineal insects suck on the plant’s sap and then produce a crimson-colored pigment called carminic acid, which gets used to make red dye. Yikes. Maybe red velvet cupcakes are overrated after all?
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