Whats in your FOOD

Not all food manufacturers are as open as this guy is about what is in his food.

Manufacturers have clear business reasons for every additive that they add to their processed food products. Here’s a general run-down of the most prevalent ones, along with specific examples of how they are listed on food labels:
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* Preservatives help improve shelf-life of products so that products can be sold longer and don’t spoil as fast. Common examples include sodium benzoate, sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite, sulfites, BHA and BHT.
* Food coloring can make foods look tastier, or make food look like other products that consumers are already used to. Currently, the FDA has approved several artificial colorings, identified by their code including E133 (blue), E129 (red), E110 (orange), E102 (yellow), and E143 (bluish-green)
* Saturated fats oftentimes enhance texture and hold foods together – such as in pie crusts and baked goods. These fats are more resistant to oxidation, making it the preferred shelf-stable replacement for polyunsaturated fats. With the invention of the plant oil hydrogenation process, industrially-produced shortenings have become even cheaper – though this process also generates harmful transfats.
Typical examples of saturated fats are palm oil, palm kernel oil, and cotton seed oil.
* Flavor enhancers such as salt and MSG (aka monosodium glutamate) can overcome weak taste profiles of frozen or fat-free foods. Check the food label for other enhancers such as diglutamates and guanylates.
* Artificial sweeteners are key ingredients of low-cal foods that substitute table sugar (sucrose) or high-fructose corn syrup with unnatural compounds that taste sweet but aren’t recognized and processed by the body. Saccharin, aspartame (NutraSweet), sucralose (Splenda), and more recently stevia are examples that you may be familiar with.
* High-fructose corn syrup is added to sweeten virtually all processed foods not designated as low-carb, or low-cal, because of its comparatively low price and favorable properties for blending and transport.
* Fillers – for example those made from ground corn cobs – increase the portion bulk, making meals look bigger without adding additional expense. The downside is that they don’t add any minerals and vitamins so essential for our bodies.