Natural Health

Battling food misinformation

Conventional wisdom that health and fitness gurus dole out to their followers is to carefully read the labels not only of health foods and revitalisers, but also of packaged foods and supplements. But even those who religiously follow this advice have to safeguard themselves against label misinformation which is as widespread as it is commonplace.

The first rule about reading product labels is to be aware that the ingredients listed are in descending order of content. That is, if the package of an energy drink says: sugar, oranges and citric acid, the main ingredient is sugar.

As I learnt 22 years ago in a nutrition class in the US, if food and drink packets list ingredients you can’t understand, it means the product contains chemicals which your body won’t decipher either. Further, there are words and euphemisms which food companies play around with, to the consumer’s disadvantage. For example — fructose, sucrose, stabiliser, class II preservatives, hydrolysed vegetable protein (just another name for monosodium glutamate or MSG), yeast extract, seasoning (can mean chemicals like MSG or aspartame), enzymes — all undesirable ingredients. And the bigger the company, the better its ability to get official sanction to describe harmful additives however it wishes. The prime objective of packaged food manufacturers/ marketers is not to scare away consumers. Which would be a natural and automatic reaction if they knew the truth about how most packaged food is prepared — the quality of ingredients, the processes used and levels of hygiene. Plastic covering is the most common methodology of misleading the public.

As a vegetarian, I am glad that a growing number of food marketing companies display a green dot signifying vegetarian products. I am glad also, to learn that in the near future, the packaging of every food or drink product will display a helpline number for product complaints to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Although basic information like manufacturing and expiry dates, net weight, manufacturer’s address, are mandatory, you can still find umpteen packaged products without this elementary data. In contemporary India caveat emptor (‘buyer beware’) is not an idle warning.

Against this backdrop of the FDA imposing an ever growing list of do’s and don’ts upon manufacturers/ packagers without severely penalising offenders, one wonders whether all these stipulations are not just another ploy to collect yet more bribes. Instead the FDA needs to be more strict about the hidden agenda of greedy companies cutting corners by using low grade ingredients to undercut competition. For instance most consumers are unaware that in spite of vegetarian gelatine being readily avail-able, the cheaper version derived from animal bones, skin, fat and tissue of pigs and cows is used in jellies, ice-creams, desserts, and even some foreign sweets.

Moreover, animal gelatine is also used to remove sediment from fruit juices and bottled drinks including wine. The enticing red colouring in icings, drinks, jams and pastas, could be from crushed beetle juice and animal tissue is often used in the making of cheese, sugar and capsules. Unfortunately under FDA laws and rules, food manufacturers are not required to provide this information on the packaging.

However food manufacturers should not be allowed to get away with these practices just because they are able to pay their way through. But the fact is they do. Therefore if as a prudent consumer, you cannot understand an ingredient or have any doubts about the gelatine or food colour, avoid it. There are enough whole natural food options available in the contemporary marketplace.

Here again, one has to be wary about label misinformation. A society in which FDA officials work for private profit rather than the public good, natural, chemicals-free food is not safe simply because the package says so. Words like ‘natural’, ‘organic’, ‘chemicals free’ etc are being used so liberally that they have lost all value. To me they are indicative of the street-smartness and business savvy of the manufacturer. Making a few superficial changes in their product — adding 10 percent wheat makes them feel justified in describing their product as 100 percent wheat flour. For others, just showing some stalks of wheat on slick packaging seems to be enough to suggest theirs is whole wheat produce. A lady in Mumbai claims she sells organic jams, squashes and pickles merely because she forswears usage of preservatives.

Of course the best policy is to steer clear of processed foods, opting for base whole natural ingredients and making your own meals from scratch without the convenience of ready foods. However, while doing your own cooking with fresh base produce may save you from additives and the like, there’s still the danger from omnipresent pesticides residue. So get your facts straight about where to buy organic produce; read labels carefully without being duped by stamps and ticks, names and logos; check out the antecedents of the manufacturing/ processing company, do your homework right. It is eventually the quality of fuel entering your cellular structure that we are discussing. It makes who you are!