Month: January 2012

Fake Blueberries in Cereals and Muffins: Kellog’s, General Mills, and Betty Crocker. All fruits are ‘stars’ that pack significant health benefits, but blueberries are absolute superstars. Blueberries abound with antioxidants, vitamin C, dietary fiber, potassium and other essential nutrients, so much so that many nutritionists think of blueberries as a superfood.

They are known to be beneficial to the skin, improve brain function, prevent Alzheimer’s and dementia, and lower the risk of heart disease and cancer. At only 42 calories per 1/2 cup serving, blueberries are ideal as a smart snack option.

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Pink Slime in Food, Hamburgers, and Ground Beef. For the sheer number of burgers they consume—about 40 billion burgers a year—Americans could rename their country Burger Nation.

But how many Americans knew that for many years most of their burgers were not made from beef, but from an ammonia-treated burger extender product derisively dubbed by agriculture department officials as “pink slime”?

The good news is that—as quietly as they began using the product ten years ago, three fast food chains stopped using it last December.

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Wood Pulp in Food: Makes It Cheap But Is It Safe to Eat? What’s in your food that’s also found in glue, asphalt, automotive brake pads and your pet’s litter? Wood? Yes. Or more specifically, cellulose or the wood pulp that is also used in cleaning detergents, welding electrodes, plastics, reinforcing compounds, construction materials, roof coating, emulsion paints and the other inedible items earlier listed.

In today’s fast-paced world of processed food, much of what we end up eating is loaded with factory-made additives like preservatives, artificial food colors and cellulose.

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