Here are 20 facts I found online about the food we are consuming today. To be honest I am pretty shocked , grossed out and scared for our future...
1. Your
food can legally contain maggots, rodent hair, and insect eggs.
The FDA
allows certain “defects” to slide by. Have a look at what your food can carry:
• Canned
pineapple can pack in up to 20% moldy fruit.
•
Berries can harbor up to 4 larvae per 100 grams.
•
Oregano can legally contain up to 1,250 insect fragments per 10 grams.
•
Cinnamon can carry up to 1 milligram of animal excrement per pound.
• Ocean
perch can harbor small numbers of copepods, parasites that create pus pockets.
2.
Nutritious food costs 10 times as much as junk food.
University
of Washington researchers calculated the cost discrepancy between healthy food
and junk foods and found that 2,000 calories of junk food rings up at a measly
$3.52 a day. Yet for 2,000 calories of nutritious grub, the researchers plunked
down $36. To add insult to fiscal injury, out of every dollar you spend on
food, only 19 cents goes toward the stuff you eat. The other 81 percent goes
toward marketing, manufacturing, and packaging. Think about that the next time
your grocery bill jumps into triple-digit dollars.
3.
Grocers don’t have to tell you where your salad comes from.
With
fresh fruits and vegetables, supermarkets must tell you the country of origin,
but with dried fruit and mixed produce, the law isn't so strict. That means a
mixed bag of salads isn't required to disclose its location, and that can
create problems if there's a bacterial outbreak. News reports might warn you
about E. Coli-tainted spinach coming from a certain country, but if your
spinach is packaged with other greens, you'll have no way of knowing if it's in
your bag. That's a huge problem considering leafy greens top the CDC's list of foods
most commonly associated with food borne illness.
4.
Fruits and vegetables are losing their nutrients.
According
to the USDA, the fruits and vegetables we eat today may contain significantly
fewer nutrients than those our grandparents ate. Researchers looked at 43
produce items and discovered drops in protein (6 percent), calcium (16
percent), iron (15 percent), riboflavin (38 percent), and vitamin C (20
percent). Your move: Eat more fruits and vegetables.
5.
Calorie counts on nutrition fact labels aren’t accurate.
Researchers
at Tufts University recently analyzed 269 food items from 42 national sit-down
and fast-food restaurant chains, and they found that nearly 20 percent of
samples contained 100 or more calories than reported by the restaurants. Think
about it like this: If every meal you eat has 100 more calories than you need,
you’ll gain more than 30 pounds this year.
6.
Chicken today contains 266 percent more fat than it did 40 years ago.
What’s
more, today’s chicken also has 33 percent less protein, according to a study
from the Institute of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition at London
Metropolitan University. The problem is modern farming practices. Cramped
environments and unnatural diets produce birds that have the same weight problems
as the humans who eat them.
7. Milk
contains hormones that may cause cancer.
In 1970,
a typical dairy cow could produce about 10,000 pounds of milk per year. Today,
that same cow produces roughly 20,000 pounds. So did cows change? Nope. It’s
their feed that’s different. Today’s cows are routinely fed a hormone called
recombinant bovine somatotropin, or rBST. Problem is, studies have linked rBST
to a multitude of cancers, including those of the prostate, breast, and colon.
And while milk from rBST-treated cows is ubiquitous in America’s supermarkets,
some of the biggest players are getting wise. Stores like Whole Foods,
Wal-Mart, and Kroger only carry rBST-free dairy.
8.
Conventional supermarket peaches can be coated with as many as nine different
pesticides.
Because
peaches are prone to bruising, blemishing, and insect takeover, they’re
routinely soaked in chemicals in the weeks before being shipped off to the
supermarket. That’s why the Environmental Working Group rates peaches among the
dirtiest conventional fruits in America. Also on that list: apples, celery,
strawberries, and spinach. As a general rule, unless the produce has a thick,
impermeable skin, assume it’s soaked in pesticides. Now wash it with water and
mild soap before you eat it.
9.
You’re probably eating trans fat without knowing it.
Slack
FDA regulations allow food processors to claim zero trans fats even if the food
contains .49 grams. To be clear, that’s .49 grams per serving. That means by
the time you finish, say, an entire bag of Cheetos, you might be ingesting
nearly 5 grams of trans fat. Sure the bag says “0 GRAMS TRANS FAT” right on the
front, but if you look at the ingredient statement, you’ll see partially
hydrogenated oil, the primary source of trans fat.
10. The
number of daily calories available to each American has increased by 500 over
the last 40 years.
USDA
data shows that the food industry supplies 2,700 calories to every man, woman
and child in America. In 1970, that number was 2,200. That increase translates
into 52 extra pounds of fat per person, per year.
11.
Commonly used food dyes can alter your kids’ behavior.
Researchers
at the University of Southampton found that colors such as Yellow #5, Yellow
#6, and Red #40 could cause hyperactivity in children. Ironically, foods
marketed to children are often the most heavily dyed foods in the supermarket.
12. Your
stomach bug is likely food poisoning.
The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that every year, 48,000
Americans receives food poisoning from contaminated food, and that puts a $152
billion strain on the economy. What’s worse, an astonishing 3,000 of those
people die. Where’s the problem?
13.
Forty-two percent of raw supermarket chicken is contaminated.
In a
study by Consumers Union, the driving force behind Consumer Reports, 12 percent
of tested chickens were infected with Salmonella, and nearly half carried
Campylobacter. Campylobacteriosis is one of the most common causes of food
poisoning in America.
14. Gulf
Coast oysters carry E. coli.
When
researchers from Arizona tested Gulf Shore oysters, they found E. coli in every
single sample. As filter-feeders, oysters naturally sift through the pollutants
in the water, increasing their risk of contamination by pathogens. If you’re
buying oysters from anything less than a highly trusted source, make sure you
cook them through.
15. The
USDA is allowing your meat to be “cleaned” with ammonia—and they’re hiding it
from you.
The
typical fast-food burger is made with slaughterhouse trimmings, fatty cuts of
beef typically reserved for pet food and cooking oil. What’s more, these
burgers contain pieces of hundreds, potentially even thousands, of different
cows. This creates an environment where bacteria thrive, so to clean the meat,
the USDA allows a company called Beef Products to pipe the raw beef through
pipes and expose it to ammonia gas. Never mind that ammonia is a poison or that
evidence suggests the process may not be fully effective. The USDA deems it safe
enough, and it allows the meat to be sold without any indication that it
received the gas treatment.
16.
Aluminum cans are lined with a hormone-disrupting toxin.
Bisphenol
A, or BPA, is the chemical found in plastic bottles, glass jar lids, and the lining
of food-containing tins and cans. In your body, BPA acts similar to estrogen,
and it has been linked to behavioral problems, reproductive issues, and
obesity. The industry has been slow to find a replacement, so limit exposure by
switching to glass containers or plastic bottles labeled BPA-free.
17.
Roughly two-thirds of bottled water doesn't comply with FDA standards.
When the
Food and Drug Administration set bottled-water regulations, it left in one
gaping loophole: The regulations apply only to bottled waters sold across state
or country borders. Bottles packaged and sold within a single state don’t have
to comply with national standards. Although many states do have their own set
of (nationally unregulated and unrecognized) regulations in place, one in five
have none. Furthermore, government and industry estimates figure that 25
percent of water bottles sold in the US contain mere tap water. You should be
so lucky as to end up with one of those; the FDA’s rules are far more lax than
the tap water standards set by the EPA.
18. We
drink twice as many calories today as we did 30 years ago.
The
average American drinks 450 liquid calories every day, according to a study
from the University of North Carolina. And booze isn’t the problem. Blame the
bigger bottles of soda, the sugar-loaded coffee drinks, and the barrel-sized
smoothies.
19. Fast
food signs alter your behavior
A study
published last year in Psychological Science reveals that the mere sight of a
fast-food sign on the side of the road is enough to make people feel rushed,
which can lead to impulsive decisions—and dangerous nutritional choices.
Sidestep your impulses the next time you eat out: Plan your order before you
walk through the door and then stick with it.
20.
There are crushed bugs in your food.
Carmine, a
vibrant red food colorant, is actually the crushed abdomen of the female
Dactylopius coccus, a beetle-like African insect. Not only is the thought of
eating bug juice gross, but it also poses an ethical issue for some vegetarians
and vegans. Look for it in red-colored candies and juices.
Source taken from:
http://www.thehealthyarchive.info/