Hazardous chemicals and compounds that you won't believe are allowed in your food
Grocery store shelves will soon be trans fat–free thanks to an announcement made earlier this month by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). But while we say sayonara to heart disease–promoting trans fats, numerous compounds and chemicals banned in other countries are still allowed in the U.S. Here are three of the worst.
Discovered only 11 years ago in certain foods, acrylamide is a powerful carcinogen created naturally when starchy, carb-rich foods are cooked at temperatures above 248 degrees. In 2010, the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization and World Health Organization Expert Committee on Food Additives labeled acrylamide as a legitimate human health concern. And although the FDA recently issued guidance on how the food industry could curb acrylamide buildup, organizations like the Center for Science in the Public Interest want the agency to take it a step further, actually setting a limit on acrylamide in food.
How to avoid it: Steer clear of processed, starchy foods as much as possible. Microwave raw potatoes before cooking them for 30 seconds, which slashes acrylamide levels by 60%. When toasting bread, stick to a light toast.
Today, many bacteria can withstand all drugs that doctors throw at them. A whopping 80% of antibiotics used in the United States go into animal feed for nonorganically raised farm animals. This results in the creation of hard-to-kill supergerms, including those found on supermarket meat. Although high-profile medical associations and public-health industry groups have lobbied hard to ban chronic feeding of low-dose antibiotics to farm animals, the FDA still allows it.
How to avoid it: Choose meat, eggs, and dairy raised without the use of antibiotics. Organic guidelines ban antibiotic use. Animal Welfare approved and Certified Humane products only allow short-term antibiotics when an animal is sick.
In an unusually bold move, the FDA recently withdrew three arsenic-based feed additives from the market. Recent tests found the carcinogen, which speeds animal growth, in supermarket poultry. But a fourth arsenic-based additive is still permitted. Even with arsenic seemingly on its way out in animal feed, it's still a problem in other foods: Studies have detected arsenic in rice and rice-based products, apple juice, seafood, and infant formulas. The heavy metal is a neurotoxic brain damager especially dangerous to children, infants, and fetuses. Public-health advocacy groups like the Center for Food Safety are pressuring the FDA to create a cumulative arsenic exposure guideline so people can better figure out if they're reaching dangerous arsenic levels based on their entire diet, not just on a food-by-food basis.
How to avoid it: Rinse your brown rice with water to lower its arsenic levels by 30 to 40%. (White rice doesn't hold up to cooking when rinsed well, unfortunately.) And avoid products listing rice syrup as an ingredient. The common sweetener contains high levels of arsenic, research shows.
More from Prevention: 19 Foods That Aren't Food
This story was originally published on rodalenews.com.
Published November 2013, Prevention