One can understand why a government might be reluctant to release information to the public about the list of illegal food additives it has found in food products made within its borders when you read this:
China Releases List of Illegal Food Additives
As part of its long-term effort to improve food safety, China's Ministry of Health recently made public a list of illegal food additives that have been used in food production. Among insecticides, drain cleaners, and industrial dyes are included boric acid, an insecticide that was added to noodles and meatballs to increase elasticity, and formaldehyde and lye, which are used to make soap and drain cleaner, but were also added to seafood products to make them appear larger and fresher. (Clinicians Biosecurity News Briefing)
My first reaction was that you have to give them credit for releasing the list at all. It is doesn't exactly promote confidence in the Made in China brand name. OK. Now I've given them credit. My second reactions was, "Oh, my God!" Here's my third reaction: this is what the US was like before the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act. When Upton Sinclair, Samuel Hopkins Adams and other muckracking journalists of the Progressive Era revealed the practices of the unregulated food industry of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in the US, the public revulsion was immediate and powerful. Sort of like reading this list. It led to sweeping legislation that also resulted in the founding of the US Food and Drug Administration.
China's turn.
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Actually, lye (made from wood ash) was used as a condiment of sorts in traditional pre-contact Cherokee cooking, where Europeans might use salt. Lye is still necessary to the manufacture of hominy and lutefisk.
Mike: You make a good point. Lye is just NaOH and is used for lots of purposes. However I think the uses the Chinese gov't alerted us to are not so benign.
As someone who lived in Sweden for a bit, I will also say that anything used to make lutefisk is not on my list of desirable foodstuffs! :)
Wood ashes didn't just soften and flavor the corn used for hominy it also increased the nutritive value
http://southernfood.about.com/cs/gritsrecipes/a/grits_recipes.htm
"It's interesting that the alkaline soaking process also unbinds necessary niacin in the corn, and has an effect on the protein balance. Though the overall available protein is decreased, the relative availability of the lysine and tryptophan are increased. The alkaline process has been used for centuries where corn was a native food, but in areas where corn was introduced as a new staple, the process was not. Pellagra, a niacin and tryptophan deficiency, became common disease in areas where corn was the main source of food, as in the early South. One has to wonder how ancient civilizations discovered the process which made corn a more balanced source of nutrition. "
Both Health and Food Regulatory agencies as well as Governments knew about formaldehyde-embalming fluid as a food additive in early 2000 at concentrations greater than 100 ppm...
...in response, they changed the rule book to allow the increased levels without bothering to change the act or inform consumers or farmers...then they did the same thing for sulphytes.
There is no democracy when it comes to food quality-regulation.
In this case, what you don't know does kill you.
There is no good reason in my mind why and how this is allowed. It's a 'no-brainer' so to speak and yet those who are tasked with looking out for our health and well being continue to fail us.
And then again this is a matter of personal responsibility is it not? If you have even a small patch of dirt start planting vegetables on your own. Or a fruit tree or two.
No dirt? Do something about it and get to a place where you can do this.
By the way (BTW) Tom DVM, really do appreciate what you share here.
I'll start believing that it is a matter of personal responsibility once companies start printing their ingredients (i.e., formaldehyde and the like) on their packaging, whether out of government mandate or the goodness of their hearts. How can consumers take personal responsibility when they are denied the information to make informed choices?
Our genetically modified food produces it's own pesticide and herbicides, yet FDA has ruled that GM food is the same as regular food and that insecticides and herbicides are regulated by the EPA which does not test or regulate food. The government has done no testing to speak of and the testing done by the Monsantos of the world are designed to not find any problems.
If labelling were required, it might look like this:
"Contains Bt-toxins from modified genes of soil bacterium that kills all pests. Guaranteed not to transfer genes to your gut bacterias DNA that would turn your gut into a pesticide manufacturing plant causing digestive problems or worse. Safety proven by the fact nobody has proven it is unsafe, and FDA recognizes food from our seeds as Generally Recognized As Safe, requiring no additional testing, having accepted our proof that it is safe."
And how about those nano particles in food containers. Think any real testing is being done?
Very true Tasha but is there anyone in a position to make constructive and positive changes attempting to do so?
Government moves far too slow. At one time it was prudent but now it's inappropriate.
Thanks Lea
pft I agree with you. More than that their pollen contaminates non-genetically modified fields.
GM crops chronically underperform as far as yields go...and they haven't been able to fix it as of yet.
The seed costs a lot more so unless they get the yields up...they will probably self-destruct.
Thanks Revere for pointing this out...its a much appreciated addition to my file.