Plastic Corporate Food

If you haven't heard the story of corporate food manufacturer's adding plastics to your food, you should.  This one is downright disgusting and what it has done to people, health wise, is yet to be seen.  Instead of using good old fashioned yeast for breads, these companies add dough conditioners, which are in fact plastic.  The reason your sandwich looks so good is because it is shellacked.

If you’ve planked on a yoga mat, slipped on flip-flops, extracted a cell phone from protective padding or lined an attic with foam insulation, chances are you’ve had a brush with an industrial chemical called azodicarbonamide, nicknamed ADA. In the plastics industry, ADA is the “chemical foaming agent” of choice. It is mixed into polymer plastic gel to generate tiny gas bubbles, something like champagne for plastics. The results are materials that are strong, light, spongy and malleable.

As few Americans realized until Vani Hari, creator of FoodBabe.com, spotlighted it earlier this month, you’ve probably eaten ADA. This industrial plastics chemical shows up in many commercial baked goods as a “dough conditioner” that renders large batches of dough easier to handle and makes the finished products puffier and tough enough to withstand shipping and storage. According to the new EWG Food Database of ingredients in 80,000 foods, now under development, ADA turns up in nearly 500 items and in more than 130 brands of bread, bread stuffing and snacks, including many advertised as “healthy.”

Please check out this list of foods containing ADA.  It is long and scary on how many trusted brands are on this list.  If you had a gut feeling not to eat these foods, and suspected something funky, turns out your gut instinct was spot on.  Generally speaking listening to your inner self is a good idea for so often that gut feeling turns out to be a major scandal down the road.

This finding makes us wonder what else is in America's food supply?  To put an actual plastic into food is simply outrageous, unethical and shows how little this industry cares about the health and well being of America.

On a home maker Suzie note, making your own bread isn't that tough with a food processor or mixer that can knead dough.  It saves money and tastes great.  Bread also freezes well for the thrifty.  Yes, you too can be an expert in the markets, advanced degrees in economics and bake your own bread.  It is possible.  Alternatively there are many organic and independent bakers out there who make fabulous healthy products.

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