There’s a war going on inside the food industry right now and I’m sitting on the edge of my seat… watching each play… and seeing who makes the right moves.
Some of the changes we are seeing are good and some are bad. The food industry is responding at rapid pace – Papa John’s is getting into organic food, Kraft created organic Lunchables, General Mills removed BHT from most of their cereals, Frito Lay is selling Organic Doritos and Amazon bought Whole Foods!
After decades of using the cheapest and easiest ways to create products to maximize profits, brands now have to face the thousands of Americans (including the Food Babe Army!) who are more aware of the crazy additives they are sticking in our food and are demanding change. There are a growing number of us who are no longer willing to buy pickles with yellow #5… almond milk with carrageenan, chips with MSG… or drinks colored with caramel coloring.
But some players in the food industry are making all the wrong moves and our trust is going to continue to decline – unless they wake up and realize that there is a new generation of smart, savvy, health conscious, and educated people out there to hold them accountable. Basically, they need to stop acting like we are a bunch of idiots.
The food industry is reinventing itself faster than ever.
How Kraft, General Mills, Kellogg’s, Pepsico, Coca-Cola, Campbells, etc. are reacting to the “clean food” revolution and changing marketplace is very telling. They can either choose to side with consumers who overwhelming want to buy real food without unnecessary and risky additives… or they can continue locking arms with the big chemical companies in how they will formulate and label their products.
There’s a “mounting distrust of so-called Big Food, the large food companies and legacy brands on which millions of consumers have relied on for so long” ~ Denise Morrison, CEO of Campbell’s
Campbell’s just announced they’re dropping out of the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), not for financial reasons, but rather “driven by purpose and principles” as they want to become “the leading health and well-being food company.” The GMA is a top industry trade group with a shady history who lobbies for policies that support junk food brands and has spent millions fighting against GMO labeling. Could it be that Campbell’s wants to rise above the fray and base their brand on ethics and trust? Or, are they trying to pull a quick one on us? It’s too early to tell, but you can bet I’m keeping a close eye on their next move.
The latest food industry inventions…
I sent a member of my team to the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting & Food Expo last year, which is essentially where major chemical companies and scientists converge to discuss their latest inventions in the food industry and present them to food companies. Many of the food additives I’ve campaigned against… artificial food dyes, Class IV caramel color, BHT, TBHQ, artificial and natural flavors are all showcased here. They also discuss the growing organic and “clean food” movement (including the Food Babe Army) and what they need to do to continue profiting off of chemical food additives and GMOs.
DOW Chemical’s French Fries? Don’t worry, we didn’t eat them 😉
New food additives being presented by Tate & Lyle at the IFT Expo.
New “Clean-Label” additives seen on the IFT Expo floor.
The food industry is having an identity crisis…
While many of the biggest food additive manufacturers were showcasing their new “natural”, “non-GMO”, and “clean-label” additives designed to replace synthetic colors, flavors, and preservatives, the word on the street focused on how they want to change customer perception so that Americans would come to accept food chemicals and GMOs in their food. They don’t like the sweeping changes that food brands are making to remove chemical additives from their food, as this is costing them a lot of money and possibly more. If consumers stop buying packaged foods full of additives, their market will disappear.
They’re pleading with their members to curtail our movement by recruiting more “science communicators” to gain the public’s trust in their food technologies. Their mindset is that consumers “fear what they don’t understand” and that if they could only explain their food chemicals in a warm and fuzzy way, we would accept them.
But, they’re way off target. We don’t trust the brands who use these chemical additives for good reason, and there may be no coming back. Last week I asked on social media if you trust the Big Food brands like Kraft, Kellogg’s, General Mills, and Coca-Cola, and the overwhelming consensus was NO. And, I don’t blame you. Here are five reasons why these brands have lost our trust…
Reason #1: They Have No Ethics
Many brands reformulate their products with healthier ingredients in other countries and also don’t use GMOs overseas where labeling is required. I’ve written about this many times before and exposed the shocking double-standard of how many brands serve one set of ingredients here in the U.S. and remove controversial additives in other countries that have stronger regulations. The examples are seemingly endless…
- Pepsico uses natural colors like black carrot juice concentrate and beta carotene in Gatorade in other countries, while they use artificial dyes derived from petroleum (red 40, yellow 5) in the U.S.
- Doritos are covered in yellow 6, yellow 5, and red 40 in the U.S. and colored more simply with paprika extract, annatto, and non-ammonia (class 1) caramel color in Europe. They also sell non-GMO Doritos overseas, while they are filled with “substantial levels” of GMO corn in the U.S. which is contaminated with glyphosate weedkiller.
- Coca-Cola uses non-GMO sugar in their sodas in the U.K., but they are sweetened with GMO high fructose corn syrup in the U.S.
- Likewise, Heinz products are GMO-free in the U.K. but full of GMOs in the U.S.
- Starbucks doesn’t use any caramel color in Europe, but for years they used class IV caramel coloring (made from ammonia) that is linked to cancer here in the U.S. (Starbucks recently removed it from most of their drinks in the U.S. after we brought a huge amount of attention to this issue!)
- General Mills and Kellogg’s don’t use the preservative BHT in their cereals overseas, but thought it was just fine to use it in the U.S. where we have lax regulations. Since we launched a nationwide petition, General Mills has quietly removed BHT from many of their cereals, but it took thousands of signatures and consumer advocacy to make this happen.
- McDonald’s french fries in Europe are made with a few simple ingredients: potatoes, oil, dextrose, salt – but in the U.S they’re made with “natural beef flavor”, preservatives, and fried in oil laced with the anti-foaming agent dimethylpolysiloxane (They removed this from their online ingredient list for their fries, but it is inconspicuously disclosed in the footer of their website – SO SNEAKY!)
- Although some major brands will start labeling GMOs under new laws in the U.S., they will not follow suit in Canada. Why not just label them in every country where they sell GMO food?!?
Reason #2: They Fight Transparency
Over the years we’ve watched Kraft, Pepsico, Coca-Cola, General Mills, Nestle, Kellogg’s, and ConAgra give millions to fight GMO labeling laws, even resorting to money laundering to hide their contributions to anti-labeling campaigns. They have spent insane amounts of money to hide the GMOs in their food, despite the fact that poll after poll shows that roughly 90% of consumers want to see GMO labels on packages. As I wrote about in The Food Babe Way, Pepsico spent over $8 million, Coca-cola spent nearly $6 million, Kraft spent nearly $4 million, and ConAgra, General Mills, and Nestle each spent over $2.5 million to fight GMO labeling initiatives. Why spend this much money to fight something that consumers overwhelmingly want? It really has felt like a stab in the back.
The new nationwide “labeling” law that passed in 2016 is giving these companies a way out. They can simply use a QR Code instead of the words “Produced With Genetic Engineering” on the package (and they won’t even need to do that for several years). Since this law passed, some brands who had begun labeling their products – like Kellogg’s – are now removing them. It’s so outrageous, and just goes to show they never did this with their customer’s best interests in mind in the first place!
Photo Credit: GMO Free USA
The same goes for restaurants who refuse to disclose their ingredients like In-N-Out Burger. Everyone deserves to know what is in the food they are buying, and there is NO REASON for restaurants to withhold ingredient lists and claim that it is “Proprietary” just because there are no regulations requiring them to disclose. We all know that is a load of you know what…
Reason #3: They Break Promises
Back in 2014, Pepsico announced they would remove Brominated Vegetable Oil (BVO) from Mountain Dew following a successful petition by activist Sarah Kavanagh. However, they still have not removed it THREE years later. And before you believe they’re still working on the formula – they already sell BVO-free Mountain Dew in the U.K. What’s the holdup?
Likewise, over TWO years ago Kellogg’s told the media they were looking for an alternative to BHT in their cereals, but they sell cereals overseas without BHT already! Why not just sell us the exact same cereal? This is not rocket science.
The same goes for companies like In-N-Out and Bojangles that have publicly vowed to remove antibiotics from their animal feed – but haven’t given a time to the public and have continued their horrendous factory farming practices.
Reason 4: They Don’t Tell The Truth
The Co-CEO of Whole Foods once asked me what I thought the new trends in food packaging would be considering the food revolution we are in. I told him we’d start seeing ingredient labels on the front of packaging because consumers care about ingredients. Well, one company – RX Bars – started doing that and when I saw their protein bars in stores I thought my prediction had come true. However, when I examined the bars closer and read the ingredient list on the back of the package, I saw natural flavors listed. The front of the package is not the whole truth and it’s misleading consumers.
This is what angers me about new food companies trying to give us more real food. If you want to gain consumers trust – tell the truth. As you can see from my recent interview with Mark Schatzker of The Dorito Effect, “natural blueberry flavor” is a way for the food industry to use fewer real blueberries and trick consumers into thinking they are getting more nutrition and flavor that isn’t there. The pop of taste from added flavors is made in a laboratory and makes food that we wouldn’t otherwise eat taste like something good. Is that why RX Bar chooses not to put the ingredient on the front of their package like the rest of their ingredients?
When Kraft removed the artificial dyes from their Mac n’ Cheese they came out with a marketing campaign which made it sound as if they came up with the decision all on their own – instead of just saying THE TRUTH: You asked for it and we delivered. They make no mention of the countless concerned parents who have been asking them to remove these unnecessary dyes for years. They make no mention of the adverse health effects that have been attributed to these dyes and as to why they don’t use them overseas. They make no mention of the over 365,000 of you who signed a petition asking them to make this change. They make no mention of the meeting they had with me in 2013 when they told me that we’d just have to “agree to disagree” and that Kraft was going to keep Mac & Cheese just the way it was. We all know the truth, but they are not owning up to it, which is quite simply ridiculous. I received the following email from a reader, which expresses my sentiments!
“Have you seen the new Kraft Mac and cheese commercial? I’m just wondering if you are as offended as I am. They make it seem like all the crap they were adding before the change would somehow affect the quality or taste and that people didn’t even notice the change. I haven’t eaten Kraft Mac and cheese in years but am thankful for your work on getting them to change the way they make it. It’s just sad they think it’s appropriate to make a commercial that makes the consumer feel as if they’re “missing out” instead of apologizing for all the poison they had put in their food previously.” – Jaime
My visit to Kraft HQ delivering petition signatures in 2013.
Some of brands try to pull the wool over our eyes by announcing they’re cleaning up their food, while they are really just swapping one poison for another. McDonald’s was quoted all over the media saying how they removed the artificial flavors in their ice cream as if this was a major step towards improving their food, but all they did was replace it with natural flavors. Anyone who’s been reading this blog for awhile knows that natural and artificial flavors are essentially the same thing (and their ice cream still contains lots of nasty ingredients like carrageenan, mono and diglycerides, and cellulose gum!)
Reason 5: They Try To Fool Us
Food brands have bankrolled scientists and created front groups to attack organic food and defend the continued use of food produced with synthetic pesticides, antibiotics, GMOs, and chemical food additives. Groups like the “American Council on Science & Health” and the “Center For Consumer Freedom” sure sound like independent and scientific organizations, but they are funded heavily by food companies like Coca-Cola and McDonald’s.
These groups and scientists they work with are often quoted in the media without any mention of their ties to the industry and are given a free pass because they present themselves as independent experts.
“Joseph Perrone, chief science officer at the Center for Accountability in Science — part of a larger tax-exempt group run by the Berman and Co. public relations firm — said industry needed to mount a coordinated effort to paint the risks of common chemicals as acceptable to the public and boost trust in federal regulatory agencies that evaluate them… Perrone’s message is that customers don’t trust chemical companies, and they need “a good PR plan, which is external to the company, which is a third party. Because, quite frankly, whether we like it or not, they don’t believe you.” ~ E&E News
Presentation by the front group The Center For Food Integrity at IFT Expo.
This is highly unethical. How can we be expected to trust brands that have a history of doing this? We really can’t.
Trust is really important and after it’s been broken, it can be hard to come back from. We have wised up to the dirty tactics they use. If food brands want us to buy their products they really should listen to us – their prospective customers – and stop hiding behind antiquated regulations and paid-off “experts” to justify selling us chemicals instead of food. I truly believe the only way they can gain our trust is by siding with consumers who overwhelmingly want them to sell real food that is healthy and sustainably grown.
The BIG FOOD companies need to wake up if they want to remain in today’s marketplace.
We are fed up with the chemical additives they use.
We are fed up with the double standards.
We are fed up with their misleading marketing and deceptive front groups.
We are fed up with their lack of transparency.
We are fed up with their support for factory farms.
We are fed up with the great lengths they go to hide GMOs in their products.
We are fed up with how they continue to hide behind our government’s lax standards and claim the additives they use are “safe”… We’ve heard it a million times and know the truth!
We have the power. Don’t let the food industry control your health.
I want you to be the smartest consumers out there. I want you to change your life, and the lives of your families. Be in charge of your destiny. The first step is to stop being hijacked by all the processed foods out there that look better – but really aren’t. And to eat whole, real foods that will give you the most amazing health of your dreams. You’ll get a chance next week to join a special group of people, along with the support of myself and my entire team, that will help you do just that! Make sure you are subscribed to my email newsletter, so you get your invite!
The industry has done some things that have demolished my trust and I’m sure you feel the same… but they have made some changes that give me hope that maybe they can turn it around and do the right thing.
What do you think? Is there anything the food industry can do to gain your trust? Is it too late for them? Are they forever on the wrong side of history? I’d love for you to chime in! Share your thoughts in the comments.
Xo,
Vani
1st, Thanks Food Babe for everything you are doing! I am appalled at what is going on in our own country. After reading so much information on GMO’s, Glyphsate and what our government is allowing to happen is the death of our nation, all for money. I infatically do not trust the CDC, FDA, EPA, USDA and most doctors. I don’t know if our land,our soils can ever return to producing quality foods? The only alternative that I see is buying “organic” but I’m not so sure how long we have before “organics” are infiltrated by Monsanto? I am mad as hell, and so scared for what the future will bring, especially for our young innocent children????? God help us!
I do not trust any of those companies Food Babe mentioned. And I eat just about all organic now. Just finished watching GMO’s Revealed by Patrick Gentempo (about 20 hours of video). I knew GMO’s were bad, but after watching this, I now know they are so much worse than even I had thought. And I found out that glyphosate is so much worse than being “just” a carcinogen. All I can say is do everything you can to eat organic – it may cost a little more now, but chances are pretty good that it will save you and your family money in the long run from reduced doctor visits and bills. Not to mention suffering. Please look around you at those families who eat processed foods with GMO’s (and most of them contain these) and those who eat organic. Just from my own past, I know the difference on health from bad foods compared to healthy foods, from always being sick to always being healthy. So now you know about me and about Food Babe – talk to your friends and neighbors and I have no doubt you’ll find the same results. It’s time to go to health.
I mentioned GMO’s Revealed – the last episode is still available, and perhaps is the best one. Here is the link to it: http://www.gmosrevealed.com/episode-9-fv_gr/?secret=D6658812BC27FA38017617300F916653BC27FA38017617300F916653D6658812BC238017617300F916653BC27FA380&inf_contact_key=bd6cf6b733908e47608b30c72b1ba7071fa34f4aadcdd56d07752592bd59149f
You may have to copy and paste.
Tony – thanks for sharing your story, and thoughts – I agree, the way you feel when you eat healthy unprocessed organic foods is pretty phenomenal!
Amen, your thoughts mirror mine! Trust for big food corps and politicians has been eroded for quite some time, and I agree- those videos were complete eye-openers for me! Thanks for all you do Food Babe – keep up the fight!!
Tony, it’s as simple as this: organic foods are very expensive, BUT doctor bills are a lot more expensive.
Paula – I am mad too, so many of my friends are getting cancer and we have to change the trajectory we are all on! Please keep spreading the knowledge you have learned!
Vandi
My daughter, April Accor Lacore, intellengent young woman of 42, diagnosed cancer
Last month. Having such a difficult time with treatment option being a health eating person. Makes her own tea and bars and a vegan person. How can we help her with treatments option. She cannot wrap her head around chemo or radiation.
Any advise. Kindly help us,,,
April email is
[email protected].
Warmly,
Dorothy Gibson, Mother. And avid follower..
Totally agree with you. We have to demonstrate to let our voices be heard. We have to boycott all these rotten to the core mega food companies. Most important we have to cook from scratch. Why do some families feed their children easy and fast food, hot dogs, cold cuts, boxed mac and cheese etc. all carcinogen. So many children have cancer just from being fed these rotten food. Mothers, fathers, go home earlier and be with your children and show them how real food is made like it was decades ago. Love and peace to all.
Phyllis; I totally agree with you. I think that the chemicals that are being fed to children today are the major cause for a rise in ADHD, autism, and a lot of these new things we never heard of decades ago.
For me we need to in the hundreds of millions go to the White House and demand change and have a list with us. This all of it needs to be epic if we show them we’re not just sheep who follow . They just don’t get it I’m in my late sixties and tired of people who truly aren’t responsible. We need to do what they do in essence demand our way too. If you use their techniques you show them what they are too. Anyway signed tired of waiting.
Firstly,Thank you for all you do, have done and still will do Vani! The truth is simply this these mega corporations backed and in cohorts with the chemical companies want you “sick”, they make a lot more money from each and every person who is sick versus a healthy person.Their greed is their growth and unless each and every one of the food babe army and hopefully more and more people vehemently deny them the pleasure of our dollars this wicked evil will continue. A leopard never changes its spots so lets conclude that at this point these companies will continue to lie and decieve many who are uniformed or who simply dont care.
Do I trust them NO WAY! The truth is not in them.
I agree with you 100% – how dare they think that they can insult our intelligence they way they believe they are. One of the BIGGEST lies that the food industry tells us is about Canola Oil. The “food industry” wants us to believe that Canola Oil is good for you and that it is organic. Canola Oil comes from what is known as the Rapeseed plant. The Rapeseed plant is toxic to humans and bugs will not eat it or bother with it. The in depth processing that the Rapeseed must go through before it can get to the stage of being able to consume it is beyond belief!!!
http://www.cookinggodsway.com/canola-oil-healthy-oil-or-pesticide/
Never too late to do the right thing. We need to be the forceful change we want to see in this world. I’m done being a guinea pig and standing by while our lives wane in the balance. Thanks for the tireless work you are doing to get the truth out. You’ve really opened my eyes to see that it’s not too late! What we do CAN make a difference, and I feel we’re unstoppable if we all pool our efforts.
It’s reprehensible what they’re doing to us all and all for the mighty dollar and to keep their status quo jobs etc.. It angers me beyond belief that our regulators are puppets and bow down to the industry whims. I wish we had a way to give them all a dose of Ebenezer Scrooge reality to wake them up to the destruction caused by them not doing the right things all these years!
I work in the telecommunication industry and am thereby helping the industry causing immense harm to the environment and our bodies, so I understand the reasons are as basic as I need to put a roof over my families head and need to make a living and do what there is to do in this day and age. But every choice we make counts, and today, I chose to share my views.
Thanks for sharing Angela.
I LOVE you Food Babe!!! For years before you started doing your work, I tried to educate my clients on the horrors that are in our food. I was going to create a list of all the things they did not want in their food, that they could carry with them to the store. Now I can just send them to your site.
About 8 years ago I started befriending a half dozen farmers at my local farmer’s market. For the last few years, 95% of what I eat is directly from my farmers whom I have relationships with and I trust. I tell them that they enable me to do what I love – alternative healing work. I grew up on a farm If my farmer’s go out of business, I will leave the city and go back to the land. There is not a thing that the big food companies could do, to make me go back to buying food from them. My trust in them is 100% gone.
THANK YOU for your MAGNIFICENT work Food Babe! You ROCK!!!
I appreciate the kind words Florence!
Almost everything you Use, Eat, Wear, Buy comes from just10 Multi-National Corporations.
“The 10 Corporations That Control Almost Everything You Buy” http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-24/10-corporations-control-almost-everything-you-buy
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Large Infographic:
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user3303/imageroot/2013/11/20131124_o10corps.jpg
It’s all just so outrageous. And we wonder why we have so many health issues in this country?Thank you for educating us all. Please keep up the fight!
I don’t trust them and I never will. I hope that they will change the way they make products for general consumption but they are blinded by their bottom line. I don’t see that changing.
#boycott and vote with your dollars! Even the sneaky big companies buying up the organic brands – I am not buying those either ! I will never trust the big brands and likewise feel the government is completely in on this deception to consumers. So sad and disgusting, and I keep hearing how this processed crap is affecting male fertility. Thanks for all you do !
I agree! Change will come when we don’t buy their products. We need to contact the companies and say we are boycotting them until they reveal what is in their products and also asking the people we know to do the same and posting this on social media!!!
We love Food Babe and trust her, which is rare to trust the government or all their alphabet agencies who side with big business instead of the people they are supposed to protect.Corporations are not people!
Focus on the good…keep your activism within your power of self discipline…i.e. educate and inform, support organic farmers, grow your own when and how you can…we can do this!
I don’t buy products from any of the companies listed in this story, and I actively encourage other people around me to do the same. Profits are all that matter to these scummy corporations, so they’ll never get my money.
Thank you so much for your honesty and hard work to expose these food additives!
Though it is hard I must learn to forgive these company’s as I am to learn to forgive all in this world. However it will take me a LONG time to trust them again…. I feel like I was their tool and I am a fool for believing there was nothing wrong with the food they were making. I remember as a child reading a few ingredient labels and thinking “what the heck is this….” but I would shove it in my face anyways because I was told this was… food….
I do everything I can now to stop poison from coming into my body in all the ways I can control it.
Thank you Food Babe, you are saving lives. I can tell you that I FINALLY got someone to read your book. I gave the book to a few of my friends a long time ago and I can tell you they never picked it up…. one friend I dearly wished would have read when I gave it to her a long time ago…. However I meet a new friend and I just showed her your book. She grabbed it out of my hands and hugged it tightly and said “can I borrow this?” I was SOOOOOOOOOOOO excited to lend it to her. In fact even happier that she took my book as I put in my own healthy notes and highlighted so much in there. She is about half way through and it making so many changes. Thank you for work. Thank you for helping my friend. Thank you for what you do.
THANK YOU!!!!
So much love,
Beans
You know what is the saddest? I have so many family members that still eat all of those foods. They think I’m overboard. I got really sick and couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me and I had to research to find an answers after several tests coming back negative. My doctor said I have IBS, Fibromyolgia, chronic fatigue syndrome. Now I had to know what foods cause inflammation or triggered my IBS. I was appalled at added ingredients to our foods in America! I didn’t really pay attention until I had to read every label to make sure I could tolerate the ingredients. Just because I had to eat clean my family think oh well she has to eat like that there is nothing wrong eating packaged foods, etc. I search and search products that don’t have flavors, GMOs, gums, etc. and there isn’t much out there. It made me mad too Vani, so betrayed because the companies say its healthy and most fall for it and pay a butt load for poor ingredients.
If the big food company’s don’t listen, they are going to be on the outside looking in. So many company’s have gotten complacent and thought they would never be out of business, look out food giants!!!
Thank You Food Babe
Go to a farmers market – peruse the produce and ask the vendor if everything they produce is all natural and not from a generically modified hybird seeds, feeds, breeds or tainted by Round-Up or some other herbicide or pesticide or hormones and antibiotics. Almost all of them will either look at you like your nuts, become defensive and snotty or tell that their produce isn’t 100% all natural and Non GMO because they can’t grow or get that type certification – it’s too expensive – not enough people will pay the higher prices for it. Especially when you live in state where cheap skates, penny pinchers and miserly selfish communities are well established. Like Michigan. So the only alternative is to go to some health food store – pay their exorbitant prices where you must read the damn labels closely – because they’re selling products labeled all natural, healthy, clean, fresh, and Non Gmo when it isn’t. Also- health food stores are selling suppliments that have an iffy and questionable production history and orgin and some of it is dangerous if you don’t consult your doctor first before taking it.
Thank you Vani for all of your hard work and dedication to bring about change as well as exposure to these horrible companies such and MONSTERSANTO, CRAFTY(KRAFT), CUCKOO COLA, GROSS(CERY) MANUFACTURES ASSOCIATION. I am sick and tired of the deception on all grounds and platforms with the Devious companies. I was thinking Vani. As you mentioned in your article about some companies making changes that is a little encouraging, but as it has been discovered that some of them just change from one or some bad additives to a different kind or kinds of additives. I am willing to add my name to a list of consumers who objects to the poisons, toxins, additives, etc. that is making us all sick. It is so important and very, very effective to hit them where it really hurts; IN THEIR POCKETS. If we keep a SUSTAINED PUSH on not buying their product they will see we mean business! (A lack of doing business with them). Thank you again, Vani for helping to keep us to live by helping us to be able to buy truly healthy food.
Great investigative work as always Vani. I have been watching “GMOs Revealed” also; and as someone else commented, it’s truly unbelievable what has happened to our food. I have followed the food industry and their tactics for a few years now, and it continues to get worse. I WOULD NOT trust these companies no matter whether they changed to organic or not. I suggest doing research on companies before you start purchasing from them. At the moment, there are only a handful of quality, trustworthy and sustainable companies that I purchase from. Remember: VOTE WITH YOUR WALLET, otherwise you are “supporting your own destruction”, as quoted by Dr. Gentempo in the Documentary. So true.
If people are horrified with factory farming, routine use of antibiotics and the atrocious way that animals are treated, please STOP eating animals and animal products. Waiting for these manufacturers to stop the above is an exercise in futility. This is something you can do today and will make a significant impact!
The reason why so many companies use these chemicals is because their corporate strategy is “Sacrificing lives for profit is good business”. These companies are run by people without any morals, scruples, sense of right or wrong and have no conscience.
I would love to see all MSG type chemicals listed on the ingredient labels, just like all the other allergens. I will never understand how any company can hide these chemicals in their food labels under the artificial or natural flavors listings. Many of us get severe headaches from the MSG type chemicals. Why doesn’t the FDA consider MSG’s an allergen, it causes an abnormal reaction to the body (definition of an allergy)? I am a strong support and fan of Foodbabe and have lost 10% of my body fat, lowered my blood pressure by 15 points both levels, and just started dropping my cholesterol by 7% in the last 8 months. I’ve also eliminated all my migraines except when I make a mistake and try a food that I crave at a party or a restaurant. Thanks Foodbabe, you’ve changed my life.
I just wish we could read the labels with gmo I buy all organic as best as I can but sometimes I just don’t know what to do. Like different countries with their food, I don’t know if I can trust them there are nothing said about gmo or organic. So I just wish we could read labels and know the truth.
Beware of the word “natural”; it can mean almost anything. Have you ever seen a label with “unnatural” ingredients?
Someone mentioned a book you wrote. How can I get a copy?
Hi Irene! You can find The Food Babe Way here: https://thefoodbabeway.com
You’re great!!! Thanks for protecting us all, we sure don’t have a voice individually. Damn, we just want honest, healthy food, why is that asking too much? Why do they add crap that’s not needed except to save money for big food. When we all stop buying products not up to good standards we must stop or going to restaurants where it’s even harder to know what heck they are giving us.
We are with you 100% Vani.
Yes food is scary these days. You cannot trust any processed foods. We need to learn to cook from scratch and take time to care about what they are putting in their body. Thank you so much for all you do.
Wow! Thank you for this post. Those fries from the expo did not even contain potatoes! This is a disaster and we need to all be on board! Buy local, grow local, and eat real food heartbreaking especially for the children.
I just love you Vani! Love how you’re straight out about everything you say, no beating around the bush! And thank you for all that you’re doing to uncover all the secrets and lies these huge food companies are striving to keep from us consumers. After almost 38 years of eating of these brands, I now have Leaky Gut, Candida, Inflammation, amongst many symptoms of those conditions. I know I’m not alone. And it’s sad because people are getting sicker and sicker and don’t even know why. Even though now my diet has done a complete 180°, enough is enough! These companies gotta either change or gotta go! Thank you again for all that you do and bringing so much awareness to us. ♡♡
Thank you Rachel – I hope you are well on the road to healing! Wish you great health… xoxo.
I believe in the free-market system. Companies are free to respond to the demands of the population by supplying goods and services that meet their needs. If the demand is for crappy food, then those companies have the right to supply them. Once the demand is there for healthy food, these companies will either adjust to the demand or fall by the wayside. The free-market will automatically weed them out if their unable or unwilling to adjust. Basic economics 101. Regarding food safety, it’s our responsibility to get educated so we can make the best food choices for ourselves and families.
This is all linked to the ‘sickcare’ system. We need better education support system to get to more of the masses. As a nutrition coach, so many have trouble putting their heads around it not just the food industry/big ag but big pharma + big medicine. Doc’s no longer get nutrition education, schools dropping cooking classes & health classes, last 40 yrs of fail food pyramid pushing subsidized grains, TV dinners, and the likes. “Doesn’t our gov protect us from stuff like that?” or “I’ve been eating this for years, how could it be bad for me now?” Or just plain “I’m not ready to give up my favorite foods” even after explaining what in it now, how bad it is for you, what it is doing to their health.
How do we get people out of the box they have been forced into by big food/big ag/big pharma where they are only seen for their spending dollars?
What if everyone walked away from the medical system & went functional/alternative/holistic?
Please continue your great, essential work to help ensure that US citizens can eat as healthy as Europeans! How shameful that our politicians have given food producers free reign to create illness at home.
I don’t trust any companies in the food arena, period. As far as Papa John’s, they still won’t admit they use MSG in it’s many forms.
We love you Food Babe and we trust you. We do not trust big business who want to own the rights to all the seeds for their corporate greed.
Our most important weapons are our purchasing power, our ability to boycott products and social media.
I have been listen to GMO Revealed and the food industry and chemical companies are working on much worse things such am more manipulating of genes, slilening them, changes the order or cutting them. They also would like to have a new category of Genetically modified Organic.
I watched the Tedx Boulder, Colorado talk by Robyn O’Brien last night after Zen mentioned her on last night’s talk. Here is the link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-u4L6VVFmw It is only 18:42 long and well worth watching as it shows how naive most people are.
All the alphabet agencies are supporting Bib Business and the Drug companies rather than the people they are supposed to protect.
I forgot to add that we all need to be aware that glyphosate is being sold as a desiccant and sprayed on a lot of Non GMO crops (like wheat, oats, beens, herbs and others) before harvest to dry them out, increase the harvest and Get a head start on next year’s weeds. That is why it is so important to buy organic
Carrageenan is also found in diet drinks like Slim Fast and also found in Ensure etc..
Boycott!! Hit em where it hurts…in the $$$$$.
If everyone stopped buying the stuff till it was straightened out..you’d see a change fast!!!
Thank you thank you thank you for all the work you are doing. You’re truly doing something to change things for the better. All my respect and support to you ..
I am so glad to have found you and to see this fight going on for our health and the health of our children and their children. It is appalling the disease and obesity that our country sees and I am convinced it is because of these monstrous food companies filling our foods with every sugar and chemical available to them- just to make their profits higher and their process easier. NO MORE!! I would love to see everyone stop buying the processed chaotic mess out there and watch their health improve, lose weight, have more energy, and feel the way a person is supposed to feel- good. I want to see these companies drop in profit, that is the only way we will get their attention. Buy organic, eat selectively, and scream loud they better change their ways!
Thanks for all your good work in getting many, many people to listen and send their opinions to the food giants, almost all of whom are run by their accountants instead of their hearts. Sad to say.
I don’t trust any of them, and your list of additives to skip is a great list, use our power in spending, also.
Thank you for all the work you do on behalf of American consumers. It’s tough work and I know it can be frustrating dealing with some amoral corporations that refuse to take the right and easy path. I try whenever the subject of food comes up to encourage people to visit your site and read about the many food concerns and the steps it takes to affect change in the food industry. I’m just glad that a more educated and wiser generation of young people is taking food safety seriously.
There are good reasons for lack of trust with these food manufacturers, and many more. I was quite leery when General Mills bought Annie’s Homegrown, and with good reason. Since the takeover Annie’s chocolate bunnies cookies have been found to contain glyphosates. And her mac and cheese I noted are no longer labeled organic, but now are ‘natural’. Another major concern is the company Senomyx which creates flavors using kidney stem cells from aborted infants, called “HEK-293”. Some of the biggest listed users of Senomyx flavors are Nestle, PepsiCo, Kraft and Campbell’s. Personally, I have boycotted all these companies for several years after learning about this. I don’t care to know that coffee creamers, pet food and orange juice taste so good because I baby was used. You can read about this here, and click on some additional links in the article for more information, which medications use Senomyx technology, etc.
https://going2natural.com/lifestyleblogs/health-nutrition-blogs/debunked-are-we-consuming-products-made-with-aborted-fetuses/
Great job FoodBabe, I never buy my food from Big Food. They have totally lost my trust. Fool me once, shame on you! Fool me twice, shame on me!
Listen to “GM Food: Cancer And Sterility, For Gradual Population Reduction” from Alan Watt’s May 25 & June 3, 2011 “Cutting Through the Matrix” broadcasts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_4596gMwU0
This is all totally deliberate and done from the “top”. Understand that the people who really run the world HATE you and want to kill you by among other things poisoning the food supply, and then when you get sick to give you more poisons as “pharmaceuticals” to finish you off. They make trillions and you die.
I would recommend growing your own food as much as possible if you want to live.
Also know that your emotional state is extremely important – when a person is in love their body produces chemicals which signal cells to grow and multiply, but when they feel fear, anger, hatred etc (easy to do when looking at this and many other things being done to the world) it makes them sick – see Bruce Lipton.
Pharma sales skyrocketed after 9/11, so don’t give to them what they want.
You are on the same page as me! Natural_____Flavors aka; MSG, as well as every vaccine, aluminum(foil, underarm deodorant, baked goods, etc.), Floride(toothpaste, water) and even the vaccines for our pets, and all(but a few) have Natural Flavors and colors in them as well. All for the sake of population control AND for profit for the pharmaceutical industry, NOT to keep us healthy, but to make us sick! The US is all about greed: have less and make more by doing it! I hope President Trump will BAN the use of all of this crap(poisons) in our food especially because he has a son that is Autistic, which IDK if he knows it or not is due to what his Mother and he ate and the vaccines that were forced upon him. Eventually the US will deem ALL those with a mental condition be deemed not productive and costing too much money to keep them(along with those on assistance) and line Hitler, gas them. Think about that! I READ every label thoroughly for even ‘newly’ invented words, such as “Organic Natural Flavor, Organic Natural Vanilla(and others) Flavors() I don’t think I am dumb enough to fall for that. So many ORGANIC foods also have NATURAL FLAVOR in them. Coco Cola’s Vitamin Water, was sued for having Natural Flavor in it and NOT being healthy as it’s name and they paid out like $3.5 million to a single man and the word/ingredient is STILL in that! I do NOT allow aluminum foil to touch my food, nor do I use anything with it in there, no Floride toothpaste however MOST do have Natural Flavor in them as well! Ugh! JASON’s Cinnamon toothpaste doesn’t have any of that in there. My friends think I am crazy for reading EVERY SINGLE LABEL. Am I? Or are they too afraid to read and learn? It’s just easy to buy and eat and die, instead of read, look for another without crap in it over and over and stay healthy and alive I guess. I’m done. Read. Efore you buy and read before you eat and do not EVER take a vaccine or GENERIC Rx! EVERY one is made in “CHINA”, where there is NO quality control and in most, there is NO medicine I them at all. Go Holistic or go to the grave. The DR.’s have to go along with promoting this or they will loose their license. Health out.
Vani, I think we’re fighting too many battles at once. Perhaps its better to laser focus our Food Babe Army on one issue a month. Let the food companies fear that they will be next.
Thank you so much for exposing these companies and keeping up the good fight. I had to change my diet for health reasons I went all in on organic and stopped eating any kind of processed food or meat unless I could find grass fed meat I could trust. Eating vegies and fruit and drinking clean water has helped me get well. But this takes a lot of effort but it is so important for my health. I won’t go back to any of these food companies they have lost me forever.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I will do what I can to spread the word.
Thank you thank you thank you Vani!! This is an amazing overview outlining so many useful facts. I don’t trust big food. I vote with my dollars every day (buying food with as few ingredients as possible – increasing whole foods in our meals – NEVER buying big brands).
I hope that more and more people start to question the link between so many “mystery” ingredients and chemicals in our food to the diseases that are on the rise.
You comment that: “General Mills has quietly removed BHT from many of their cereals, but it took thousands of signatures and consumer advocacy to make this happen.”
The ‘many of their cereals’ is interesting, which cereals have BHT and which ones don’t? That is the important question for many of your readers, I am sure. I, personally, do not eat any of their cereals, but am curious how much of the ‘quietly’ took place.
I use your Food Babe Way book like the bible on shopping. Now I know all the money spent to STOP GMO labeling in OR I quick buying products from those companies. But since some are buying out smaller organic companies it’s hard to keep up…I don’t trust them to keep the smaller companies to be real organic food either.
Three Twins ice cream is 50% off this weekend at our local store so shared your article on what’s in ice cream with all letting them know if they eat ice cream get your Three Twins this weekend.
Dr. Patrick Gentempo has a GMO Revealed summit on last week with replay’s this weekend it confirms all you have helped us understand and more. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!
We quit buying anything that had Campbell’s on the label many years ago. Now we are watching for anything that is Monsanto, which is almost any brand of prepared foods. Boycott Monsanto. Lobby for it to be declared corporis non grata and essentially kicked out of the United States. They cannot sell in most all of the rest of the world, but maybe they might find a third world country that would take them in. Otherwise, let them go belly-up and die.
Two years ago after listening to commercials about how healthy Campbell’s Tomato Soup was, I asked them on a Facebook page (don’t know if that particular one still exists) how they can call it healthy when it contains high fructose corn syrup? (all the tomato soup in our supermarket does for that matter)
They gave me some ridiculous excuse and I argued with them … I am diabetic and as far as far as I’m concerned, it’s BS .. and infuriating. Diabetics may tend to be more concerned with lables as we are always looking for sugar and carbs, but there are traditional comfort foods we grew up with and we tend to just accept these. I almost feel like they should have a warning label for people with children ;-(
I would never really trust those companies.
Organic Lunchables? Organic Doritos? No thanks to that either.
Even if they made something organic it doesn’t change the fact they still have heavily processed food full of GMO’s, artificial colors, natural and artificial flavors, BHA, BHT, TBHQ, MSG, High Fructose Corn Syrup, and so much more. Or the fact in other countries such as the UK the foods are made differently (less toxic).
It just feels to me the whole making of Organic Lunchables and Organic Doritos is to try to shut us all up while they still continue making the fake foods they still continue to make.
Don’t buy into it. I wouldn’t trust them. Neither should you.
It seems like just about every aspect of our lives has been taken over by people who have figured how to make money at others’ expense. Not just in the food industry, ether. These people aren’t going to give up their money-making schemes easily. It’s going to take an enormous revolution to make it happen, moreso I think than even what’s going on now.
So many of you think that the food industry is out to kill you. Don’t you think that in the long run that’s a very poor business plan? Please use your head.
It isn’t. They use cheap in ingredients for a reason. It is to make you highly addicted and to get you sick.
Pretty sad so many people are oblivious to the things the big companies are doing. Either that or those people just do not care.