Transparency in Labeling

This stir fry of local, seasonal root crops and greens has nothing in it that would surprise you. No human hair from barber shops in China. No feathers. No ground-up boiled hooves or cockroaches, or extracts from the anal musk glands of beavers.

Processed foods you buy in the supermarket, even organic ones? Can't promise you they don't have these items. According to a truly shocking, and dare I say, potentially life-changing article I read last night in the current issue of VegNews, these are all accepted on the Code of Federal Regulations as "natural flavors," along with an oil extracted from sheep's wool (lanolin), an enzyme removed from the tongues of calves (lipase), and many more ingredients. I kid you not.

For me, knowledge is power, yes, but it's also unforgettable. Once I read something like this, that's it, it's locked in my head forever, completely changing the way I see the world in which I live, and the way I interact with that world. Now, add to this mix that I am in my ninth month of my "Nothing with a Face" year as a vegetarian, and then you can understand that now I face a whole new set of food choice decisions. For instance, now that I know that the Vitamin D3 added to milk is derived from lanolin (sheep wool) or fish means that milk with Vitamin D3 is no longer vegetarian (forget vegan). (Vitamin D2 is from yeast, so that one is okay.)

But let's not stop at the implications for vegetarians of these animal-derived additives. (Ambergris is a flavoring agent from the intestines of sperm whales, for instance.) How does it make you feel, anyone, no matter how you eat, to know that these things are added to your food without you knowing it? Without you having any way to know it from reading most labels? (According to the article in VegNews, Europeans have it even harder than those in the United States because the ingredients are listed with numbers instead of names, however vague, on labels, so this isn't a U.S.-screwed-up-food-system-only problem.)

Long-time readers of FoodShed Planet know where I stand on labeling--I want transparent labeling that enables me to make fully informed decisions about the food I buy, eat and feed my family. Yes, the trans fat labeling regulation helped. Yes, the allergen labeling requirement helped. But we're not done yet, folks. We deserve to know when there are growth hormones (and when there are not). When there are antibiotics. When there are GMOs. And, yes, when there are animal-derived additives (enzymes from pig's stomachs, rendered beef fat, coagulating agents derived from cows, and so on) without needing an advanced degree in chemistry.

Apparently, the FDA has approved about 2800 food additives and 3000 chemicals as GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe). The examples I've given are some of these. And so I ask you, these are generally recognized as safe for whom? For vegetarians? For those interested in animal welfare? For those with religious restrictions? For anyone who doesn't want beetles in their food, or any other additives whose derivation you just don't know or can't figure out easily by reading a label?

As I see it, there are several choices regarding taking control of the food we eat:

1. Vote with your dollar. Just say no to processed foods that contain additives you don't want in your diet, or whose labels are not clear. Buy whole foods and buy foods grown and prepared by folks you know, close to home.

2. Get involved. Read about food labeling issues. Write letters to your government representatives. Do research. Talk to friend and neighbors. Find out everything you can so that you can make informed decisions--and help change the system.

As for me, I'm up a creek without a paddle. Now, I'm back on the "milk detective" trail, so to speak, to try to find an organic milk that does not contain vitamin D3. Or do I even need the milk? The rice and almond "milks" that are available are not organic, so no, thank you. And although I do drink organic soymilk, I continue to be concerned about the estrogenic effect of too much soy so I'm not sure I want to go 100% that way yet.

I've had it with big business. I've had it with our commercial food supply, and that includes Big Organic, too. I've had it with what has happened to us as a society--and the fact that we have somehow, unknowingly, let it happen. I've had it with feeling like I'm tiptoeing around a mine field every time I eat, and that I can barely talk about what's happening to most people because I'll "ruin their appetites."

I just want food. Real food. Whole food. Simple food. Is that too much to ask?

Transparency in Labeling