Check Check and Check again.
You're standing in a supermarket aisle looking at two similar products,
trying to decide which to choose. You want to make the healthier choice but,
as usual, you're in a hurry. Well, help is at hand.
A growing number of supermarkets and food manufacturers are using traffic
light colours on the labels of some products to help you make your choice.
Food labelling is now compulsory here in the UK, mainly brought to bear, by
the public with heightening amounts of allergies, so all food must be labels
for nut traces, gluten etc.
As a member of the public you must be able to trust this labelling, but in
the U.S. recently, Tyson Meats, one of the largest meat companies in the
U.S., was caught in a truth-in-labelling violation.
Responding to the demand for fewer additives in food, Tyson introduced a
chicken product labelled "raised without antibiotics." Except it's not true.
How can we hope to make informed food choices if we can't trust or believe
the information provided on the package label?
Monosodium glutamate, or MSG, is an ingredient many of us have known to
avoid for 15 years. We assume that if not specifically mentioned among the
ingredients, MSG is not present. Not true. It is very often included in
prepared foods under a different name, as glutamate, "natural flavors" or
other code words. Those among the growing segment of the population with
MSG, corn and/or soy allergies must be skilled detectives and inveterate
label readers. Corn and soy do not have to be listed among the ingredients
if they are derivatives of corn or soy, such as citric acid, guar gum,
lecithin or "enriched" flour.
The Best Solution, grow your own, and then make your own, and you will know
exactly what you are using, lets get back to the “Market Garden” culture.
One of the best solutions is to purchase locally produced food. When you can
look the farmer in the eye, ask how the food is produced (chemical
fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides), what the animals are fed and how
they are raised (hormones and antibiotics), plus other questions in
alignment with your values, you can make choices with confidence.
And while we're asking, ask our legislators to promote accuracy in labelling
with regard to foods in particular, and everything in general. We do not
deserve to be misled in any way about the foods we choose to support our
families.