Freedom Ingredients
US food additives that are banned in Europe
I was working on a 28 ounce bottle of an unspecified sports drink to combat the dehydration from a recent bout of Covid when something occurred to me. My doctor recommended I drink this, while I know for a fact, it contains chemicals that are banned in Europe and other countries.
We ‘mericans call those ‘freedom ingredients.’
☠️ Potassium Bromate and Azodicarbonamide
These are dough conditioners / whiteners. Sure, they may initiate or encourage the growth of tumors, but it makes bread more ‘bready.’ Groups advocating for public health have been petitioning the FDA to remove them for years, but the FDA insists they are safe in limited amounts. The problem is that these ingredients are present in a bunch of US products. And if Americans are known for anything, it's eating in moderation.
Oh, that’s right, personal responsibility. Stop eating all that crap!
This food has been formulated in a lab with just the right amount of salt fat and sugar to stimulate the prehistoric part of our brains that are stocking up until the next mammoth is slain.
Just avoid processed foods?
Okay. Now you sound like every recipe commenter on the internet. Can your own vegetables. Milk your own oats and harvest the salt from the sweat of your brow. Stop being so lazy thinking you can trust the food in the grocery store. Little Debbie? Did you mean Little Deadly?
Be vigilant or suffer the healthcare system that is certainly not in cahoots with the food system.
What are you, a conspiracy theorist?
☠️ Brominated Vegetable Oil (BVO)
Brominated Vegetable Oil is added to citrus flavored soft drinks and sports drinks (think Gadorade) to stop the natural separation of ingredients on shelves. Excessive, meaning daily consumption of two to four liters of soda with BVO have caused memory loss, tremors, fatigue, loss of muscle coordination, headache, and a super sexy droopy eyelid.
Major beverage companies, Coke and Pepsi announced the removal of BVO from their products in 2014, but they didn’t actually remove it until 2020. It has been in use since 1931 and is still in many grocery store brands.
Soda drinking Boomers, Gen-xers, and Millennials have gotten plenty over the years. Consumption of perhaps the most notorious citrus flavored soda, Mountain Dew, is almost cultural among gamers of a certain age. ‘Extreme’ is the basis of their entire ad campaign. My husband and I had friends who toasted with Mountain Dew at their wedding instead of champagne.
It wasn’t until November of this year that the FDA finally proposed a ban on BVO, citing “headaches and nervous system damage” as the reason for revocation.
☠️ Yellow food dyes No. 5 and No. 6, and Red Dye No. 40
In Europe, products containing these substances must have a warning label with the following message.
“Coloring agent may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.”
It’s funny how companies will reformulate a product for sale in Europe to avoid such a label and yet continue to sell the dangerous one in the US. It makes one wonder what their motivation could be…
It’s not like the natural alternatives are drastically different. Check out these M&Ms. Would Americans even notice or care if they switched to the version on the right? I doubt it has any effect on the taste.
Yellow No. 5 is found in Gadorade and Mountain Dew, not to mention a host of other products you wouldn’t think of like condiments and breakfast bars. The omnipresence of these artificial dyes in a wide variety of products on the market makes them difficult, time consuming, and expensive to avoid.
It seems that European regulatory agencies and others across the globe err on the side of caution when it comes to food safety. The US Food and Drug administration seems to take a more lax approach. These chemicals are innocent until proven guilty. I can’t imagine that the money being made on these products is worth the risk, but then I am not a multi billion dollar industry making record profits while US cancer rates continue to climb.
Sources:
About the Creator
Leslie Writes
Another struggling millennial. Writing is my creative outlet and stress reliever.
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