Love Your Kids? Don’t feed them these foods
which are banned in other countries
If you love your family and yourself, you’d be wise to avoid these very common foods which are probably in your kitchen now. These are foods which are legal in the US, but banned in other, more enlightened countries around the world.
The US FDA is supposed to protect the citizens of the US, but the FDA is also run by many retired executives of food and drug companies, and is heavily lobbied by the same food and drug companies. So, to get something banned by the FDA, it has to be very dangerous, or a threat to the food and drug companies. As an example, the FDA only prohibits 6 ingredients in skin care. Canada has over 600 forbidden chemicals on their skin care list. So why is a chemical considered safe in the US, but step over the border and it is forbidden? Are Canadians more sensitive than those standing on US soil? Nope.
As you read the list below and think about each, consider this – the reason these foods are on this list is because they are cheaper to produce than conventional organic, wild raised, etc type of foods. So it boils down to the old saying:
“You get what you pay for”
If you continue to buy the cheapest food then you promote the continuation of the dangerous practices listed below. If you buy quality, then the economic viability of the foods below will fade away – it is all about economics.
So here is the list:
- Milk and Dairy products containing rBGH – rGBH is the largest selling dairy animal drug in the US. It is a synthetic growth hormone engineered by Monsanto. It is injected into cows to increase milk production. It is banned in 30+other countries because of its dangers which include increased risk of colorectal, prostate, and breast cancer. Even the cows which are given the drug suffer high rates of cancers, some of which contaminate the milk with pus and antibiotics. What can you do? Buy only milk which is labeled rBGH-free or No rGBH, or Organic, or buy organic plant milks instead.
- Genetically Engineered Papaya – Most of the Hawaiian papaya is now GMO to resist ring-spot virus. Research is now showing that animals fed GMO foods are suffering many maladies including intestinal damage, organ damage, tumors, birth defects, premature death, and complete sterility by the third generation of offspring. GMO papaya is banned in the European Union.
- Ractopamine Tainted Meat – This is a chemical/drug which increases protein synthesis. This was a drug developed for asthma but they found it made the test mice more muscular. It also reduces the overall fat content of the meat. This can be found in 45% of us pork and 30% of the conventionally-fed (grain) cattle, and unknown number of turkeys. Up to 20% of the drug remains in the meat you buy. It is banned across Europe, Russia, China, and Taiwan. If China bans it, then it must be bad!
- Flame Retardant Drinks – Do you love Mountain Dew and other citrus flavored sodas and sports drinks? Well you’re then getting a healthy dose of brominated vegetable oil (BVO). This was originally patented as a flame retardant. BVO accumulates in your body and breast milk. It has been found to cause reproductive and behavioral problems in large doses. Bromine is chemically similar to chlorine, fluorine, and iodine. The first two are toxic and it can displace iodine causing problems with iodine deficiency. It is banned in the European Union and Japan.
- Artificial Food Colors and Dyes – Look at a box or jar of food and look for the popular Red 40, yellow 5, yellow6, or blue 2. These are the commonly used artificial colors used in foods like kids Mac & Cheese, Jell-O, and many kids’ foods. Research has shown that these can cause behavioral problems as well as cancer, birth defects and other problems in animals. They are banned in Norway and Austria. The UK has advised companies to stop using them by the end of the year. The EU requires warning labels.
- Arsenic Laced Chicken – Everyone should know that Arsenic is a poison, then why is it allowed in chickens? Because it makes the animals grow quicker and makes the meat appear pinker, so it looks fresh when it may not be. The arsenic fed the chickens also ends up in chicken manure, which is then sold to farmers to fertilize crops, then it ends up in whatever grows in it. In 2011 Pfizer voluntarily stopped selling the arsenic based feed additive, but other companies continue to produce it. I met with a major chicken producer who said they pump their chicks full of drugs and they grow to full size in 8 weeks. A normal barn yard chicken will take 6 months to reach full size. So they can get a chicken to slaughter weight in 1/3 the natural time, that means they can produce three times the chickens from the same space. It is banned in the European Union arsenic laced feeds have never been approved.
- Bread with Potassium Bromate – This is found in almost all commercially produced breads and flours and contributes to the overload of bromide in western cultures. Why do they add potassium bromate? Because it makes the dough more elastic. Look for packages labeled “unbromated flour” Bromide has been linked to kidney, thyroid, GI and nervous system problems and cancer. It is banned in Canada, China, and the European Union.
- Olestra/Olean – this is a calorie and cholesterol free fat substitute used in fat free snacks. Why is it in foods? Because they can make tasty fat free snacks that taste like they are fried. It can cause various GI problems and interferes with the absorption of fat soluble vitamins such as A, D, E, and K. It is banned in the UK and Canada.
- Preservatives BHA and BHT – These preservatives are often found in cereals, nuts, gum, butter spreads, meats, potato products and even beer. BHA is known to cause cancer in rats and may cause cancer in us! It is banned in the UK in infant foods and also banned in the EU and Japan.
- Farm Raised Salmon – Wild salmon live in the ocean and the krill they consume contain astaxanthin which gives salmon its pink color and also its high amount of beneficial omega 3 essential fatty acids. Farm raised salmon are fed an unnatural diet of GMO corn, GMO soy, and other unnatural foods. Farm raised salmon is gray in color, so they add pink food coloring to the feed to make them pink. Look at the label on that Atlantic Salmon in the store, you’ll see “Ingredients: Salmon, food coloring”. Also without the natural diet, farm raised salmon is very low in beneficial omega 3 oils and much higher in the inflammatory omega 6 oils. The same applies to other farm raised fish and shrimp. To be safe only buy seafood labeled “Wild Caught”. Farm raised salmon is banned in Australia and New Zealand.
You probably see a theme in these 10 foods – Food companies use dangerous ingredients or practices to increase the production of the food and keep the costs down. It is our demand for cheap food which taste good, but the general public is sadly unconcerned with what they put on their family’s table. They will buy the bargain food with no regard to what is in it or what it will do to them and their family.
Many expect the FDA to oversee the food supply so that if it is on the shelf or in the freezer, then it is safe. Sadly though in the US the FDA is more concerned about making sure there are minimal insect and rat fur in the product than making sure it healthy and not harmful. Remember the FDA is really controlled by the food and pharmaceutical companies, so that is like asking the fox to watch the hen house.
So what can you do? First look at what you put in the shopping cart. If you habitually reach for the lowest priced option, then you are getting what you pay for.
Mike Hall is nutrition expert with degrees in Biochemistry and Psycho-Biology, and is passionate about health and nutritional medicine. Mike, along with his wife and business partner, Claudia, also work as educators to help people learn how to improve their health and live a richer life. Mike also is a consultant and is sought after to help food, beverage, pharmaceutical, and nutriceutical companies improve their manufacturing, quality, product development processes. He has worked closely with small biotech companies and also huge multinational companies whose products are probably in your kitchen. Through his blog at www.mikeha77.com Mike provides education on many nutritional topics as well as sorting through the product advertising hype we all are faced with. If you hear a product claim that it sounds too good to be true, visit his website to see if he has an answer, or contact him for more information at mike@mikeha77.com
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This article appears in ISSUE 27 of Healthy Juicing Magazine.
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