I’m the first to admit that the beloved Doritos and Cinnamon Toast Crunch of Monkey Boy’s dreams are loaded with junkity junk ingredients that are terrible for him {or anyone!}. But I also believe in moderation. He loves them, so I’ll indulge that love a few times a year. I don’t think I’m permanently harming him, because the remainder of the time, I try to feed my family fairly healthy meals. That’s why I was blown away and a tad angry when I read this NPR article about food fraud.
I guess I was just a little naive to think that when I buy a tub of Parmesan cheese, I’m actually buying cheese and not something crazy like wood chips. Yes, WOOD CHIPS!
“Earlier this year, Wal-Mart was sued for stocking tubs of Parmesan cheese that contained wood pulp filler. Olive oil is often mixed with sunflower oil and sold as “extra virgin.” And you might recall the great European horse meat scandal of 2014: Traces of horse meat were found in Ikea meatballs and Burger King beef patties, in cottage pies sold at schools in Lancashire, England, and in frozen lasagna sold all over Europe.”
What the what? Have I been living under a rock? Did you guys know this was happening? The article says they find food fraud all over the world every day of the week. That’s crazy talk!
Got me a little bit worried that in my attempt to feed my family healthy food, I was actually feeding them horse meat or something wild like that. The good news is that one of the easiest things to do to prevent it is to avoid processed foods. They said the more processed the food, the harder it is to spot food fraud. They also said a good rule of thumb is to always buy your food from bonafide sources. “If you buy your stuff from the back of vans and so forth, you can expect what you’ll get.”
So moral of the story? Grow your own food when you can {Dig for Your Dinner, I always say!}, avoid processed foods {like buy the actual wedge of Parmesan and grate it yourself!} and only buy from trusted sources.
What do you think? Did you know this was happening or are you as blown away as I am?!
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Lisa MTB says
I had read that there are additives in prepackaged shredded cheese that prevent the bits of cheese from clumping together, so I’m not too surprised. We try to buy locally produced food as much as possible (milk, meat, cheese, veggies), not only to prevent the costs of food mileage, but because it is easier to find out how the food is produced (and what might be in it). I like to shred my own cheese because it tastes much, much better (lack of fillers probably has something to do with this), even if it does clump a little 🙂 With foods that I buy that are not local, I try to dig in and do a little research (especially if it’s something that receives more processing).
Pam E-P says
Almost any grated cheese you buy contains wood fiber. It’s an anti-clumping agent. Always best to grate your own!
Kathy says
I haven’t fully trusted our food suppliers since the 1980’s Beechnut baby food scandal when they substituted their 100% apple juice with sugar water. If a large corporation can do this to babies, what would they do to the rest of the population.
I eat simply, try and buy organic, and supplement with a small vegetable garden.
Mavis says
Yikes, I didn’t hear/read about that one.
Mrs. C. says
I grate my cheese most of the time because cellulose, from wood, is used as an anti-clumping agent. I did hear about the olive oil, which apparently is a problem mostly with imported oils, so I’ve been migrating to California oils.
Carol says
Great suggestion, Mrs. C!
Mavis says
Second that. Great suggestion.
Helen in Meridian says
I saw that 69 Minutes special on how Italy and Spain olive oils are often controlled by the mafia and that they are not pure but have other things filtered into them.
Kristina says
Of course, buying the real deal is better! It’s always best to know what’s in our food, and unsettling to find something unexpected. However, horsemeat and wood cellulose might be something that make us queasy to think of eating, but in the case of horse meat, it’s a cultural revulsion, and wood cellulose is just plant fiber, like any other plant fiber we consume (cinnamon is made from bark, just to name a close cousin). The olive oil is thing is just fraud, which is disappointing. Maybe we’d feel better about it if we take a deep breath and have a nice beverage with some nice little critter-produced toot bubbles (beer), and a nice plate of moldy mammary bovine secretions (gorgonzola) on crackers. 🙂
Cindy M. says
I must say, you are quite clever with your observations and words
Fiona says
I didn’t know wood pulp was used to stop cheese clumping, but it wouldn’t surprise me from the way pre-grated cheese tastes. Mavis, please do your family’s taste buds a favour by buying proper Parmesan and grating it yourself; the stuff in the tubs is vile. Being in the UK the horsemeat in processed food scandal was all over our news but I didn’t really understand the fuss because a) horsemeat is, in many cases, healthier than the meat it was being passed off as and b) if you eat cows and fluffy baaa lambs, why is eating horse such a terrible thing? It’s actually a delicious and lean meat. I know manufacturers shouldn’t lie about what they put into products but in that case I don’t see what harm they were doing. People reacted like the manufacturers were trying to poison them. If they were putting pork in Kosher burgers I could understand the hoo-ha it caused, but not this.
Suzanne says
I learned years ago that all shredded cheese has wood in it to keep it from sticking. Since then I only buy blocks of cheese. Even with that, I have found there to be a huge difference in quality. I try to only buy cheese from our natural grocery store. Their sales are so good that I can usually get it cheaper than the big name brands anyway.
I had heard about olive oil but never did know a good way to know if I was getting true olive oil. I’ll have to start paying attention to where it’s from.
Jen@FrugalSteppingStones says
We heard about the oil olive scam years ago from Consumer Reports. That’s why we buy California Olive Branch olive oil. It’s real extra virgin olive oil without adulteration. The adulterated versions do not give you the same health benefits.
robin says
Wood pulp used in food products is nothing new and the information regarding this has always been there for anyone to find, people just don’t look. Like you, I live in the Pacific Northwest (also a transplant), but I remember back in the 90’s going on field trips with my children to the forestry nurseries and learning that wood fiber was used in many food products, mostly ice creams and cheeses, as a thickener , emulsifier and stabilizer. The response then by everyone was, “okay”, move on to next subject, no big deal. Although I personally don’t buy pre-grated or less expensive products that tend to contain it, I don’t find them reprehensible either. It is plant fiber – plant cellulose. Read your labels, do your research if you aren’t sure what an ingredient is and where it comes from. Very simple.
M says
I don’t see the big deal in having ‘wood pulp’ as a declumping agent in cheese or other products because humans actually DO eat parts trees. Rosemary is the leaves of an evergreen herb, cinnamon is the bark, etc. It may not be the most appetizing ingredient, but just because it is wood doesn’t automatically make it bad or good for you. It really depends on the end product you are getting.
To show that humans will eat whatever is edibile, here is some variety in the food we eat:
Plants:
– rhubarb, asparagus, celery – stalk
– lettuce, squash, radish, turnip – leaves
– onion, turnip, radish, carrot – root
– broccoli, squash, artichoke – flowers
– wheat grass, lemongrass – the whole grass blade
– truffles
– coffee – some are digested by animals before being ground into coffee
– mushrooms – the whole thing
– cinnamon – tree bark
Other things:
– live animals (octopus and fish are common victims of this)
– rotten fish heads
– lots of semi-decomposed things (yogurt, anything fermented)
– odd parts of animals (tongue, brain, etc)
Side Note:
I found a site on eating tree bark that isn’t cinnamon: http://mentalfloss.com/article/22597/tree-bark-eating-beginners
tl;dr – Don’t be quick to label something as gross just because you aren’t used to it or it is a foreign idea. That said, do what you want with your cheese.
Cheri says
Humans don’t eat wood pulp. It is not a fruit or vegetable and doesn’t fall into the categories you listed. Sure, we may eat things we don’t normally eat in order to survive, but that doesn’t mean we should. And I doubt most people would put cinnamon in the same category. The other thing that upsets people is that a cheese product is supposed to be purely cheese, and filler like wood pulp not only cheapens its quality and nutrition, it also means we are paying less for cheese and more for wood pulp. Why would we do this? Even if it is listed on a can, wood pulp doesn’t belong in our cheese.
Lori says
I know right! What you think you are buying at the store isn’t at all what it says it is. Michael Pollan’s Ominivore’s Dilemma really sheds light on this subject. Even bread isn’t bread, what it is is a long list of overly processed ingredients that we can’t even pronounce. It’s awful, which is why your “dig for your dinner” is spot on! Thanks 🙂
Mrs. C. says
A couple more thoughts:
1. No, horse meat is NOT okay to eat unless it has been specifically raised for human consumption. In most of the cases people read about, the horses do not meet that standard and were snuck into the food chain.
http://www.humanesociety.org/assets/pdfs/horse/toxicity-of-horse.pdf
2. Some good California oils are available at Trader Joe’s for a good price.
Drea says
The food industry has been doing this from the beginning. Their bottom line is to make money. Unless you produce your own or know exactly where and how your food is produced, it is like playing roulette. There are many books/ articles written about food safety and food fraud. There are the yogurts that claim to be healthy. Their packaging looks like they have strawberries in them when in fact they do not. The safety and fraud issues have been going on for a very long time. I guess I am just surprised that people are shocked that this happens.
Brianna says
Food isn’t what it use to be. It is partly our job as consumers to carefully check and understand the ingredient lists and partly the producers responsibility to accurately report and list ingredients. Unfortunately, many of them use complex scientific terms and few people understand the real ingredient behind the term. For example, ‘carmine” is a common FDA approved food grade dye added to food to color it a bright red, most people would be appalled if it stated ‘bug exoskeleton extract’ or something of the likes. My mother always stated, “if Grandma can’t read, pronounce, and understand the ingredients, then I should think twice about buying and consuming it.” I think it is repulsive to have meat dyed to look fresh and packaged cookies with an ingredient list that takes up half the package. They are just cookies and it should only have a dozen or less ingredients with proper names, even the bakery fresh ones have long ingredient lists. I can make them for cheaper, I can pronounce and see what goes into them, and I don’t have to worry about preserving myself from the inside out.
Sandy says
I spend a good portion of my disposable income on healthy, organic foods. I economize in my food budget where I can, but to the best of my ability (and budget) buy locally sourced organic foods. I knew about the olive oil, so I too only buy California or Oregon olive oils. (There is actually a local olive oil press in Dayton!) http://redridgefarms.com/taste Their olive oil is amazing. I absolutely admire your $100 a month budget for groceries and do my level best to emulate it, but I doubt I will ever be able to get that low because I am, admittedly, very fussy over what I will purchase. God willing it will stay economically feasible for me to continue to do so, as it is a privilege. I do try to grow as much as I can too, and I frequent the farmers markets all summer. If I cannot pronounce what’s on the label, I don’t eat it. Also, a good rule of thumb is if it has more than five ingredients you probably don’t want to eat it.
I’m not saying all corporations are bad, but I do think most of them are out for the almighty profit vs. the health of their consumers.
Erin says
My eye-opening experience was with honey. Most honey in stores is not real honey! It is from China where they use high heat to filter out all the pollen (so no one can trace where the honey came from), then things like high fructose corn syrup, antibiotics and other additives are put in. Ick! We get our honey locally and it is full of pollen and other goodness.
Angela D. says
Wow! What a great post, Mavis! You’ve really got us all talking and thinking about food. I feel a burst of motivation to plan my garden for this year (snowed yesterday, in my neck of the woods.)
Mikey says
If you want to get mad, try feeding kids with food allergies/sensitivities. You find out lots more about what’s in your food like soy sauce made from wheat, corn syrup in honey, formeldehyde in REAL maple syrup, etc . My father in law used to work for the white bread company and he told me they put soap in the bread! I don’t know if they still do… It’s like what you and other said, if you want to know what’s in it, make it yourself. Smart people! Hopefully more pepple will get educated about what’s happening and realize these companies, much like our govt, are NOT looking out for us! Don’t even get me started on genetically engineered food…….