Preservative 224. Yum Yum
 

Picking up a can of Coconut Cream for the curry I was going to make, I scanned the ingredients to make sure they hadn't added anything without telling me.

BASTARDS!

They had added something. Now instead of being coconut cream and water, it was coconut cream, water and stabiliser 466.

I don't eat numbers. So I put it down - making a mental note to call the manufacturer to ask them what 466 was and WHY they suddenly decided to add it.

Picking up another can I spied preservative 224.

Forget it. I'll just use the one remaining can of "additive free" coconut cream I have at home and water it down a bit.

Called the manufacturer. 466 is Sodium Carboxy Methyl Cellulose. A synthetic gum. It's added to the coconut cream as an emulsifier - to stop the cream and water separating. It's also added to detergent. Hmmm. Think I'll pass on that.

What about preservative 224?

What a doozy that one is.

Official name is "Potassium Metabisulphite" and it can cause: asthma, cyanosis (a blue or purple discoloration of the skin that can occur when there is not enough oxygen in a person's blood or tissues), faintness and even unconsciousness!

It's also NOT recommended to be consumed by children!!! (no sh*t)

Oh My God! And they put this crap (poison) in food!?

Poison might seem a harsh word to use but not really...

Poison: any substance (liquid, solid or gaseous) which by reason of an inherent deleterious property tends to destroy life or impair health.

And I would say that restricting the amount of oxygen in a person's blood and tissues, causing asthma, faintness and even unconsciousness is impairment of health.

Thing is. People don't know. They just buy stuff and use it. Never thinking the chemical it contains needs to be filtered by the liver and can cause these dreadful ailments.

They use it. Repeatedly. Kid gets asthma. Go to doctor. Doctor prescribes ventalin (another chemical). Asthma gets worse. Ventalin dose increases. Blood test reveals blood is not carrying enough oxygen. Have a pill to fix that. Round and round we go. All because some stupid preservative is in the food in the first place and mom and dad can't be bothered to check it out - or don't want to know, on some level.

Makes me mad.

Mad that companies add this stuff to food. Mad that parents aren't diligent enough when it comes to what they feed their kids - and themselves. Mad that the media keeps quiet about it. Mad that the government allows this stuff in food in the first place.

Do you know what's in the food you're eating?

Michael Ross


Preservative free, sugar free, fat free, 100% brain stimulator

First post in a long long time
 

Michael,

You couldn't have said it any better. I learned this lesson with one of our kids.

Our youngest was born with several alergies - peanuts (still is), wheat, eggs, milk.... The "regular" doctors wanted to load him up with tons of medication. No way. We just kept him away from those things and gave him totally natural foods (as natural as you can get these days), most of which we made ourselves. He was on goats milk and different soy products for two years. We kept him as far away as possible from those nasty things we have all grown up with. He is now 4 and strong as an ox.

Here is the trouble though. With seven kids, we are definitely on a tight budget. Finding foods that are not filled with cr*p and fillers and flavors etc is not an easy task on a small budget. My wife and I did a days worth of comparison shopping. With $100 we were able to get almost twice the amount of the "usual" food as compared to "better for the body" food. Strange concept - the food that is worse for you is cheaper, the food that is better for you is more expensive. How do we compete? Most people can't and end up buying the cr*p.

Sometimes I wish we lived in the old days when things were so much simpler. You could go to the local market and get bread, real bread. You could get veggies and get real veggies, not some scientifically grown stuff.

Dennis

I hear ya...
 

First, good on ya for taking action yourself instead of pumping your little'n up with more chemicals. It takes a strong person to go against "the norm."

Shopping at my local supermarket is expensive. Sometimes $5 for ONE cantaloupe (Rockmelon to us Aussies) - usually about $4 ($3.98).

I don't pay those prices. I shop for fruit and veg at a private place. $1 for honeydew melon and cantaloupe. $1 a kilo (about 50 cents a pound) for other fruits like oranges. Beats the $4 - $5 a kilo ($2 - $2.50 a pound) at my local supermarket.

Fruit shop sells eggs for $2.95 a dozen. Same eggs in supermarket cost $5.33.

Only thing I use supermarket for is meat - sometimes (specially now my local organic meat shop has closed down due to lack of interest). And spices - curry, cayenne, salt, pepper, etc.

The other stuff - bread, pasta, rice, etc. - I call "filler." Funny how filler is CHEAP.

Funny how one packet of frozen french fries - 1 kilo - is cheaper than 1 kilo of unwashed spuds.

BIG watermelon goes long way. Better than ice-cream.

HEY! With 7 kids you could have a book on your hands.

Lady in Australia got media attention for her book. "How to feed a family of four for under $100 per week." She bought lots of flour and pasta and rice and some cans. All "no brand". Made everything herself.

How to feed a family of nine for $100 per week. That will make the media.

Double HEY. Come to Australia and go on welfare. Govt will pay you $800 a week with 7 kids.

Michael Ross