Unfortunately, often the food we buy from supermarket shelves is loaded with a large repertoire of unpronounceable additives. My daughter has a motto, if you can’t pronounce it, don’t buy it. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) website tells us there are an astounding 10,000 additives allowed in food! By way of introduction, the EWG is an excellent resource if you are inspired enough to begin looking beyond the visual appeal and the packaging of food. If you visit their site
you will find a valuable resource that enables you to check out all the additives you may find on those labels (including a section on good food on a tight budget). You also can check what’s been added or (hopefully) not. EWG have a ‘dirty dozen’ additives featuring for instance the nitrites…..
Ever wonder how cured meats like salami and ham are able to retain their seemingly fresh pink color after weeks on the store shelf? They may be treated with nitrates or nitrites – chemicals commonly used as coloring agents, preservatives and flavoring. Although they can prolong a food’s shelf life and give it an attractive hue, they come with health concerns….(read HERE)
The remainder of EWG’s dirty dozen additives is comprised of Potassium Bromate (in breads, a possible carcinogen), Propyl Paraben (several health concerns including fertility), Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA) (a preservative that is possibly carcinogenic), Propyl Gallate (another preservative and possible carcinogen), Theobromine (found in chocolate, similar to caffeine, possible harmful reproductive effects), secret flavour ingredients (typically flavouring ingredients that are artificial or genetically engineered), artificial colours (a raft of chemicals with concerns for health and hyperactivity in kids), Diacetyl (flavouring in popcorn ‘butter’, yoghurt and cheese, associated with an irreversible respiratory condition), Phosphate food additives (found in baked goods & fast foods, associated with heart and kidney disease) and Aluminum additives (accumulates in the body, associated with neurological disorders).
“Ever heard of propyl paraben? This endocrine-disrupting chemical linked to decreased fertility in women moonlights as a preservative in corn tortillas and muffins” (EWG)
It does seem a no brainer to many of us, when it comes down to it, about choosing not to feed our families any ingredients that are harmful. To many sadly, it’s not. I think we have just become complacent and 
trusting. We’ve not questioned the trustworthiness of those who’ve been selling to us. The time is past however for blind trust … and the information is there for us to look at. People caring enough have done the research for us. They just need to be listened to and the information acted on. There is a wealth of websites that feature the research on these items, check them out with a google search and do yourself and your family a favour. You will be the healthier for it and you’ll save on professional health expenses. And remember, corporations are about profits, they will line their pockets at the expense of your health. And they will smile at you while they are doing it.
RELATED LINKS:
http://www.safefood.org.nz/index.php
http://www.ewg.org/
Aspartame is converted by the body into formaldehyde, a cancer-causing chemical
(NaturalNews) The controversy surrounding one of the world’s most popular artificial sweeteners, aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal), continues some 30 years after the chemical was rammed through the regulatory process by pharmaceutical interests, despite its well-documented dangers. And yet to this very day, many people are still unaware of the chemical sweetener’s sordid history, not to mention what aspartame is actually made from and how it affects the body and brain. Read More: https://envirowatchrangitikei.wordpress.com/2016/01/28/aspartame-is-converted-by-the-body-into-formaldehyde-a-cancer-causing-chemical/
Why you shouldn’t have it or anything containing aspartame
“Several weeks ago the Wrigley’s Corporation mailed me a sample of their latest product, X.Cite – “40 sugarfree crunch pearls in a resealable package”. Its on TV ads and supermarket checkout counters with Airwaves and Extra gum. The artificial sweetener, they all contain, aspartame, has been described as “a Pandora’s box of chameleon-like toxins and tumour agents that have 92 FDA (the US food regulatory body) acknowledged ways to ruin your life, death being one of them”.”
Read More: http://www.safefood.org.nz/diefordrink.php
A List of Foods Containing Aspartame
From diet drinks to sweet treats, aspartame is one of the most popular low-calorie sweeteners. Despite its presence in diet foods, aspartame is not calorie-free, it contains 4 calories per gram. Since aspartame is two hundred times sweeter than sugar, you only need a very small quantity of aspartame to create a sweet-tasting product
Read More: http://www.livestrong.com/article/389334-a-list-of-foods-containing-aspartame/
Watch for this common food additive … a dirty little secret of the soft drink industry … it’s a carcinogen
While browsing recently online for a collagen supplement … particularly a non marine one given the state of Fukushima we’re not told about by MSM (mainstream media). I’m not being alarmist here, it’s just that I would prefer to err on the side of caution these days given corporations have been lying to us for quite a few decades now. Folks with testing devices have been finding their food to be radioactive. Fukushima spews vast quantities of radioactive water into the Pacific ocean daily and has been since 2011 or thereabouts, with the Japanese people gagged from talking about it in relation to their health. Corporate lying is also evidenced by the multitude of fines they are paying these days for their misdemeanors (‘peanut’ fines they pay out of their petty cash pretty much). So, no, this is why I don’t trust their spin. Read More: https://envirowatchrangitikei.wordpress.com/2016/01/14/watch-for-this-common-food-additive-also-a-dirty-little-secret-of-the-soft-drink-industry-its-a-carcinogen/
“Ban artificial food colourings” UK report
Artificial food colourings should be banned in the interest of public health, according to UK researchers. A team of researchers from Southampton University said removing these substances from foods could cut hyperactivity rates in young children.
They are extending their research to see whether additive-free diets have a positive effect in older children too. The research on 300 three-year-olds, appearing in the journal Archives of Diseases in Childhood, screened the children for hyperactivity and allergies. Over the next four weeks the researchers controlled the children’s diets, giving them in the first week only foods free of artificial additives. During the second and fourth weeks the children were given a fruit juice with or without artificial colourings and preservatives. The children’s parents were asked to keep diaries on their child’s behaviour throughout the study, but were unaware which type of juice their child had been given. Read More: http://www.safefood.org.nz/ukreport.php
MSG and Obesity: fat rats, brains and eyeballs (Flavour enhancer 621)
by Toni Reid
A certain substance, when injected into baby mice and rats, causes them to mature into unnaturally obese adults. In animal testing, this same substance has been shown to cause brain cell destruction and retinal deterioration. In fact, this stuff is so good at killing brain cells, that’s what some experimental scientists use it for!
Unfortunately for us, it is also added to a wide range of foods available in our local supermarkets, and fast food outlets. It even finds its way into some medical products and is an ingredient in an agricultural spray. What is the purpose of this additive, you may want to know? Does it protect us from the horrors of food poisoning? Read More:
http://www.safefood.org.nz/MSG.php
Environmental Health Watch NZ 
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