Well Joe, are you a vegan? Do you do your own canning and food preparation? Do you shop at “organic” grocers? You certainly must enjoy roadfood if you’re on this board. If you purchase prepared food of any kind such as canned,frozen,or shelf stable, good luck. Much of these are a fact of life if you expect a palatable product that you purchase in a store. Everything has risks or an adverse effect in quantity. Somebody can find a health risk in any product. Vegans feeding their kids healthful soybean deriviative products like milk and tofu are waking up to the fact that their kids are experiencing estrogen related effects for example. People eating quantity amounts of citrus are finding interactions with alpha-blocker type medications that their lives depend on. Agave was mentioned. I happened to read an article claiming it was dangerous during the week. How about the balance between Splenda and real sugar? If you’re a diabetic, it’s a clear choice in risk to benefit. MSG, the whipping boy of the popular press has been demonized to the point of hysteria, yet it’s virtually in everything, especially restaurant and food service products.  For something so bad, the food industry uses it by the tons with the government’s blessing. Think you’re so smart reading labels? They can slip MSG in so many ways that the average person has no clue it’s in there. NO MSG on the label, yeah, maybe so in it’s conventional form, but you can bet your bottom dollar there is something much more creative in there made from a genetically Frankenstein yeast and wheat derivative. You like bread or baked goods from the store that last longer then a few hours after baking? Creamy texture in products without added fat?  You can thank products derived from slime coats from bacteria. You like something from the freezer case that doesn’t turn into mush when you defrost it or fall apart? Thank products similar to antifreeze. Would you settle for virtually any bottled product that has totally separated because the chemical wizardry of specialized emulsifiers? How would you like to open a can or package a month from now and find the contents detriorated? You’d be mad as hell.  The popular press, experts with questionable adgendas and internet fueled hysteria is backing the food industry into a corner to offer “healthful” products via frivolous litigation that’s ultimately costing us, the consumer millions. Problem is, that many folks are absolute hypocrites. They vocally decry the very same products they buy. Ever wonder why the low salt or low fat version of a product rarely lasts a few years? Nobody wants to buy them. If you worry about these additives, just wait. Lawsuits and pundits are forcing the hand of food scientists to develop more and more genetically modified and esoteric products that can be labeled as “natural” just to keep their competitve edge. No telling what horrific effects some of this stuff is going to have long term on the human genome….all because of the knee-jerk, herd mentality of ignorant people that immediately assume that if you can’t pronounce it, it shouldn’t be in the food.

Lot’s of well meaning people worried about the health of their families that are being led by the nose by special interest organizations. Don’t be one of them and react just because someone “said so”.

While the whole concept of moderation appears lost on us as a nation, there is nothing on that list that is good for any of us. Much…or maybe all…of it makes foods cheaper and easier to make, move, and market, but it is a rare day when any of those things coincide with my best interests.