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What Am I Eating?

Sep 17 2005 by Adam

Ever wonder what is in the food you're eating? Well I took the liberty of reading the labels of 3 different products to see what was in them, and I was a bit surprised at what I found. For only about 2 out of 3 ingredients was something that I had heard of before, and the rest was just bizarre and seemed made up. So I'm going to go through the ingredients and show you what I found.

Frosted Chocolate Fudge Pop Tarts:

Flour, *sugar/glucose-fructose, *dextrose, vegetable shortening, icing, *sugar, water, *modified milk ingredients, *crackermeal, cocoa, corn starch, salt, baking powder, baking soda, gelatin, dried egg-white, *Xanthan gum, natural flavor, *soya lecithin (emulsifier), color.

I dont know about you, but I found some of those ingredients weird, out of place, or they sound made up, I'll show you what I mean:

sugar/glucose-fructose- This is just sugar with words added on.
dextrose- Also known as sugar.
sugar- Self-explanatory.
modified milk ingredients- Modified how?
crackermeal- What in the name of God is crackermeal?
Xanthan Gum- What is Xanthan Gum?
Soya lecithin (emulsifier)- Come again?

As most anyone could have told you, Pop Tarts are just colored sugar, but as far as anything else in it goes, I have no idea what its doing in there.

The second item I looked at was Carnation Hot Chocolate:

Sugar, corn syrup solids, hydrogenated vegetable oil, (may contain coconut, canola, soybean, palm kernel, safflower, and/or cottonseed oils) *Modified milk ingredients, cocoa, *cellulose gum, salt, *dipotassium phosphate, *silicon dioxide, artificial flavor, *mono and diglycerides, *guar gum, *sodiumaluminum silicate.

Things that seem out of place or weird:

Modified mil ingredients- Whatever happened to regular milk?
cellulose gum- What is this?
dipotassium phosphate- Is this just me, or isn't phosphate used to help plants grow?
Silicon dioxide- More junk.
Mono-and diglycerides- Even more junk.
Guar gum- What's this? More gum?
Sodiumaluminum silicate- Now they're just going overboard.

Apparently Hot Chocolate isn't made with actual chocolate anymore, just made with gum and junk they find lying around.

The third and possibly the most interesting product I looked at was Pepperoni and bacon pizza pockets with extra cheese. What I found was confusing and changes the whole perspective of what is in one of these:

Enriched Weat flower, water, part skim mozarella cheese, (Milk ingredients, *bacterial culture, *salt, *rennet, *calcium chloride) Meat ingredients[(*pepperoni, bacon) pork, beef, *water, *mechanically seperated chicken, *salt, wheat flower, corn starch, *sugar, *dextrose, spices, garlic powder, *smoke, artificial flavour, *sodium erythorbate, *sodium nitrate, *sodium phosphate, *bacterial culture)] tomato paste,cnola and/or soybeanoil, modified corn starch, skim milk powder, *vegetable oil shortening, (canola and/or soybean, may contain palm oil), *salt, *sugar, dry yeast, seasoning, *soy lecithin, *cellulose gum, *mono and diglycerides, *natural and artificial flavor.

Things thatt seem out of place or weird:

Bacterial culture- wouldn't that be bacteria? i.e. germs?
Salt- Everyone likes their salt.
Rennet- What is this?
Calcium chloride- interesting...
pepperoni and bacon- one would hope it was an ingredient.
water- since when has water been a meat product?
Mechanically seperated chicken- I never even knew there was chicken in a pizza pocket... Why is there chicken in a pizza pocket? What kind of pizza has chicken in it? Furthermore: why is it mechanically seperated? Is it so disgusting
no one will seperate themselves? Or is it for the amusement of the employees? Is this possibly a subtle message that one of these days I'll take a bite out of one of these to find a machine part or oil?
Salt-Mmmm more salt.
Sugar- Everyone loves sugar on pizza.
Dextrose- More sugar...
Smoke- How do you add smoke to it?
Sodium erythorbate- O.K...
Sodium nitrate- Another kind of sodium...
Sodium Phosphate- More sodium...
Bacterial culture- Seem familiar?
Vegetable oil shortening- Or in laymen's terms, vegetable oil fat.
Salt- Where does the salt stop? (for those keeping track thats the third time salt was used).
Sugar- Not only do I think sugar doesn't belong in a pizza pocket, this was also the third time sugar was used.
Soy lecithin- This is a weird name...
Cellulose gum- Wow what doesn't have gum?
Mono and diglycerides- I've run out of things to say...
Natural and artificial flavor- As opposed to what? No flavor?

As far as I can tell, Pizza pockets are made of Salt, Sugar, and bacteria. However I hope that doesn't discourage you from eating them.

Concluding this, I have determined that even food isn't as it appears...sadly.

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1 comments

by julie maria on Sep 24 2005 10:18 pm

ew.

did you take grade ten chemistry? it makes me wonder.