Pandora's Lunchbox email project
Dear Mom,
As I’ve told you before, I am taking ISS310 this semester. The title of this course is “Eating Industrial.” As part of the class, I read a book by Melanie Warner titled Pandora’s Lunchbox: How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal. One of my projects in the class is to send an email to someone about what I learned and why I think it’s important. First off, I want to tell you that you will probably be frightened by some what I tell you. However, I urge you to take this with a grain of salt, as in my opinion, the book tends to focus on only the negative aspects of the processed food industry. In reality, I think processed foods do have a place in our future, as far as convenience and preparation time are concerned.
One of the biggest points Warner tries to makes is that the food industry isn’t going to fix the world’s health problems and we shouldn’t force or expect them to (Warner, Pandora’s Lunchbox: How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal, page 202). All these large food processing companies see is the money. They don’t care what the ingredients are, as long as it tastes good. The food engineers are very good at what they do. In addition to finding the optimum taste, which the food companies declare the “bliss point,” the food engineers specifically try not to overwhelm the brain with strong flavors. Strong flavors encourage the brain to stop eating, which also means the customers buy less of the product (Moss, Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food, page 6).
The most shocking thing to me about the whole book was when Warner was listing off ingredients in our food. She would list a chemical name, and then say that it was a major ingredient in an item we should not be eating, such as petroleum, rubber, plastic, and paint. These substances are usually a powder that influences the preservation of the food product. One chemical in particular, an ingredient for bread named Azodicarbonamide, is a yellowish-orange powder, which is the result of a reaction between sodium hypochlorite and ammonia. Azodicarbonamide is typically used in the production of various plastics and rubber. On a Chicago expressway in 2001, a truck carrying this substance overturned, spilling its contents. Law enforcement issued the highest hazardous materials alert and evacuated people up to half a mile away. Many people at the scene suffered from burning eyes and skin irritation (Warner, page 103). Long story short, this is something you never want in your bread.
Harvey Wiley played a large role in the early regulation of food additives. His first major project, from 1902, in the food industry was feeding a group of twelve humans 3 meals a day, each laced with borax, a mineral that causes skin reactions, respiratory irritation, and gastrointestinal distress. These brave twelve men, later named the Poison Squad, ate these free borax-laced meals for nine months in a row. While nobody died during the experiment, or subsequent follow-ups, many volunteers reported nausea, vomiting, stomachaches, headaches, and the inability to do their jobs effectively. His conclusion was that each of the tested substances was “not fit for repeated human consumption, even in small doses (Warner, pages 21-23).” In the 1950’s, Congress passed a law requiring new substances to undergo a rigorous testing process by the FDA before being allowed in food. In concordance with the law, Congress established the GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) list. This list was completely voluntary and established for ingredients like salt, vinegar, yeast, and spices that everyone knew to be safe. What they didn’t know at the time was that this list gave the food companies an easy way out. The GRAS list is a complete failure, but it is still used today. Food processors don’t have to petition to add an item to their food; they can just notify the FDA after the fact, or choose to do nothing at all, since the list is voluntary. The GRAS list has pretty much erased everything the law tried to fix, as since 2000, there have only been four formal food additive petitions submitted to the FDA (Warner, pages 106-107). There are no incentives for good behavior or punishments for bad behavior, so regulation is basically left up to the food processors at this point.
Warner talked about Kraft Foods as well. After almost a century of packaging cheese individually, Kraft decided to cut some corners to maximize their profits. In doing so, the company actually removed a quarter of the cheese in their product and replaced it with a milk protein concentrate. This new product was cheaper and yielded a more consistent product. When the FDA heard of this, they required the company to either switch their recipe or switch the label on the package. Kraft took the easy way out and in 2003, Kraft Singles were downgraded from a ‘food’ to a ‘product’ (Warner, pages 44-45). Most consumers never even noticed the difference. The most ironic thing about this is, in a different article we read, the VP of Kraft, Michael Mudd, was the main speaker at a 1999 meeting between big-wigs in the food industry. Mudd gave a presentation about the dangers of obesity and the food industry’s role in it to representatives from Coke, General Mills, Procter & Gamble, and Pillsbury. The General Mills representative stood up afterwards, scoffed and said that he wouldn’t change his strategies because his business is about taste, not what scientists are saying about obesity (Moss, page 3).
Pandora’s Lunchbox was very eye-opening in many regards. I think you will find some of this very interesting. Even though we don’t eat processed foods very often, I think reading this book was great. If nothing else, I want you to know that based off what Melanie Warner said, it is a good thing we don’t eat processed foods. I didn’t realize quite how bad the processed food industry is.
Love,
Andrew
As I’ve told you before, I am taking ISS310 this semester. The title of this course is “Eating Industrial.” As part of the class, I read a book by Melanie Warner titled Pandora’s Lunchbox: How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal. One of my projects in the class is to send an email to someone about what I learned and why I think it’s important. First off, I want to tell you that you will probably be frightened by some what I tell you. However, I urge you to take this with a grain of salt, as in my opinion, the book tends to focus on only the negative aspects of the processed food industry. In reality, I think processed foods do have a place in our future, as far as convenience and preparation time are concerned.
One of the biggest points Warner tries to makes is that the food industry isn’t going to fix the world’s health problems and we shouldn’t force or expect them to (Warner, Pandora’s Lunchbox: How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal, page 202). All these large food processing companies see is the money. They don’t care what the ingredients are, as long as it tastes good. The food engineers are very good at what they do. In addition to finding the optimum taste, which the food companies declare the “bliss point,” the food engineers specifically try not to overwhelm the brain with strong flavors. Strong flavors encourage the brain to stop eating, which also means the customers buy less of the product (Moss, Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food, page 6).
The most shocking thing to me about the whole book was when Warner was listing off ingredients in our food. She would list a chemical name, and then say that it was a major ingredient in an item we should not be eating, such as petroleum, rubber, plastic, and paint. These substances are usually a powder that influences the preservation of the food product. One chemical in particular, an ingredient for bread named Azodicarbonamide, is a yellowish-orange powder, which is the result of a reaction between sodium hypochlorite and ammonia. Azodicarbonamide is typically used in the production of various plastics and rubber. On a Chicago expressway in 2001, a truck carrying this substance overturned, spilling its contents. Law enforcement issued the highest hazardous materials alert and evacuated people up to half a mile away. Many people at the scene suffered from burning eyes and skin irritation (Warner, page 103). Long story short, this is something you never want in your bread.
Harvey Wiley played a large role in the early regulation of food additives. His first major project, from 1902, in the food industry was feeding a group of twelve humans 3 meals a day, each laced with borax, a mineral that causes skin reactions, respiratory irritation, and gastrointestinal distress. These brave twelve men, later named the Poison Squad, ate these free borax-laced meals for nine months in a row. While nobody died during the experiment, or subsequent follow-ups, many volunteers reported nausea, vomiting, stomachaches, headaches, and the inability to do their jobs effectively. His conclusion was that each of the tested substances was “not fit for repeated human consumption, even in small doses (Warner, pages 21-23).” In the 1950’s, Congress passed a law requiring new substances to undergo a rigorous testing process by the FDA before being allowed in food. In concordance with the law, Congress established the GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) list. This list was completely voluntary and established for ingredients like salt, vinegar, yeast, and spices that everyone knew to be safe. What they didn’t know at the time was that this list gave the food companies an easy way out. The GRAS list is a complete failure, but it is still used today. Food processors don’t have to petition to add an item to their food; they can just notify the FDA after the fact, or choose to do nothing at all, since the list is voluntary. The GRAS list has pretty much erased everything the law tried to fix, as since 2000, there have only been four formal food additive petitions submitted to the FDA (Warner, pages 106-107). There are no incentives for good behavior or punishments for bad behavior, so regulation is basically left up to the food processors at this point.
Warner talked about Kraft Foods as well. After almost a century of packaging cheese individually, Kraft decided to cut some corners to maximize their profits. In doing so, the company actually removed a quarter of the cheese in their product and replaced it with a milk protein concentrate. This new product was cheaper and yielded a more consistent product. When the FDA heard of this, they required the company to either switch their recipe or switch the label on the package. Kraft took the easy way out and in 2003, Kraft Singles were downgraded from a ‘food’ to a ‘product’ (Warner, pages 44-45). Most consumers never even noticed the difference. The most ironic thing about this is, in a different article we read, the VP of Kraft, Michael Mudd, was the main speaker at a 1999 meeting between big-wigs in the food industry. Mudd gave a presentation about the dangers of obesity and the food industry’s role in it to representatives from Coke, General Mills, Procter & Gamble, and Pillsbury. The General Mills representative stood up afterwards, scoffed and said that he wouldn’t change his strategies because his business is about taste, not what scientists are saying about obesity (Moss, page 3).
Pandora’s Lunchbox was very eye-opening in many regards. I think you will find some of this very interesting. Even though we don’t eat processed foods very often, I think reading this book was great. If nothing else, I want you to know that based off what Melanie Warner said, it is a good thing we don’t eat processed foods. I didn’t realize quite how bad the processed food industry is.
Love,
Andrew