Food Quality Magazine
ISSUE 03 | JULY 2015
Clean Eating: Understanding Food Labels
Michael Green, soundbodylife.com
More and more people are becoming aware of the war between safe,
organic foods and chemically altered, steroid induced foods. We live
in a day and an age where personal
choice matters, especially when it
comes to protecting our bodies from
poisonous hormones and pesticides.
Knowledge is the most important
weapon consumers can use against
the major food corporations that
hide behind unethical farming practices. The most uneasy thing to consider is the attempt to trick consumers
with organic-looking packaging and
words normally associated with organic products.
The Country of Origin Labeling
It was specifically for this reason that
organic farmers began to drop the
organic label. They felt it could not
be trusted anymore, and they were
right. Now there are so many misleading words on labels that consumers
may think they are buying a truly
organic product when they are really
buying hormone-packed meats or
genetically altered materials.
• ground beef, chicken, lamb, goat,
and pork
Many farmers couldn’t keep up with
the ridiculous amount of paperwork
they were forced to complete just
to have their foods officially labeled
as organic. It is these same farmers
who use methods that are stricter
than the United Stated Department
of Agriculture requires.
• wild shellfish
Any rare label stating the food is
beyond organic is referring to these
dedicated farmers who took it one
step above the corporations and refused to get drowned out by misleading labels.
Genetically Modified Organisms, or
GMOs, are traits of plants altered
mostly to ensure a longer shelf life.
There are many major environmental
concerns about this practice, but it
is still perfectly legal. Any product
that contains GMOs is not required
to be labeled, which is obviously
also very concerning. To ensure you
are not consuming GMOs, check for
the USDA-Organic Certified label or
the Non-GMO project verified seal.
There are also more certified label
listings below to check out.
The truth is in the labels, but with
so many out there, it can be difficult
to weed out what is good and what
isn’t. There are key words and phrases you can look for to be sure you
are supporting an organic company
and getting the best foods for your
body. Take a look.
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The Country of Origin Labeling
program, or the COOL program, is
an information program for the consumer. All foods, including imported
foods, are required to meet USDA
food and safety standards as well as
the standards of the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA).
The COOL program maintains the
law that retailers must reveal the
crop’s country of origin to the consumer. Foods that are covered under
the COOL law are:
• cuts of beef, chicken, lamb, goat,
pork, and veal
• ginseng
• peanuts
• macadamia nuts
• pecan nuts
• wild fish
• farm raised fish
• farm raised shellfish
• any perishable agricultural commoditie
Genetically Modified Organisms
The whole process of creating a
GMO food begins in a lab where a
scientist removes one or more genes
from one organism and combines
them with the plant they would like
to modify. When adding new, different genes, the goal is that the plant
expresses traits of the organism it
was combined with. For instance,
scientists have given the DNA of
regular corn genes from a bacterium
called Bacillus thuringiensis, sometimes known as Bt. The Bt genes gives
out proteins that kill insects, which
mean the corn can produce its own
pesticide. This may sound good in
theory, but what happens when humans consume the corn?
Therein lies the debate. While some
say that using GMO technology is
just another way of breeding plants,
others are concerned about the long
term effects of these genetic modifications. Not only that, but the
concerns also lie with feeding the
animals we are going to eat with
foods that we wouldn’t want in our
own bodies.
Unlike plant breeders, who combine
plants of the same or related species, GMO scientists transfer genes
from viruses, bacteria, and even sometimes animals. Since genes are
complex, they are still not fully understood; therefore, the outcome
of such splicing is unpredictable and
frankly somewhat scary for most of
us who are paying attention.
Despite the research and evidence
that these genetically altered foods
are bad for us, they still hold a shockingly large place in today’s markets, mostly going unnoticed. Listed
below are certain GMO foods that
are currently approved by the United
States Department of Agriculture
and should especially be checked for
proper organic labels.
• alfalfa
• arctic apples