The choice of quality ingredients vs cost is an issue Coca Cola faces, sure they can use better ingredients, pure natural sugars such as Sucrose or Fructose, but in the long run, those cost more money and would most likely have to be synthesized anyway. That cost would not be eaten by Coca Cola, they would pass it on to the consumer. If you’d prefer to spend the $0.50 (or whatever it would jump to) more a Coke for pure sugar and no phosphoric acid or “Natural flavors,” more power to you. As long as money drives the sale of the product, the company will do whatever it takes to increase profits by lowering costs.
Warning label or not, there is a nutritional fact label and ingredient list on every “food” item. Given that information, that should be substantial for any half educated person to make a decision whether or not they should consume it, in excess or sparingly. There comes a certain sense of responsibility one must assume when putting anything in their body.
the nutrition label just tells you how many grams of sodium or sugar it has when it comes to food with zero nutritional value. it does not give you any idea as to what ingredients are being used. I would gladly pay a little extra for quality foods and I do, I only cook quality meats I get from better butchers that have been grain fed, and only use quality ingredients without “Natural Flavors” lol Anyone know of a jewish butcher around here? :lol
I get the fact that you think people are educated enough to look at what they are consuming, but we’re not taught properly (or at all) about any of the compounds that are put in our food. You shouldn’t eat it if you can’t pronounce it I guess. Bad business if you ask me.
I’ll bet you don’t even know half of the harmful stuff you consume on a day to day basis. This is due to no labeling, you not knowing what it is, or it not technically being an ingredient of what you are consuming.
I mean Coke is a household name, how could they possibly be using a carcinogenic substance in their product that they serve to their customers?
My argument is simply this: If it’s not fit for human (or animal) consumption (in whole or part, small or large), then why the fuck is it in our food supply.
If these companies want to put it in their product, then yes, they should pay the price for it. Maybe they should start taking some responsibility for what they are using to create their product. We do it with alcohol, tobacco, but they are something that you don’t require to live.
You say this will cost the consumer more, maybe so. What about when all of these start having problems and the general populous is left holding the bill? We all wind up paying for the mistake then. 50 cents now or a higher healthcare cost to everyone in the future.
I’m pretty well educated on this topic, take my information and do as you please with it. I’m all for natural selection, but I don’t wish ill will on people for consuming their basic necessities. There really is no debating this issue when your food is actually doing you harm.
I pretty much agree here, in terms of whats in prepared food its easy to say you never know whats going to be in besides the quick rundown of calories/sodium content (which don’t really tell you anything anyways) etc. In terms of grocery store labeling, it’s a little bit easier to pick something up, look at the ingredients (granted it’s never going to disclose what is in the “proprietary blend”) and say well “They won’t even tell me what’s in this?!” Are a lot of the ingredients in food that shouldn’t be there? Yes. (It’s literally sickening. ha) Even via the transport of fresh foods such as tomatoes. Where you knock out a ripening gene and basically run ethylene gas over them to get them to ripen before you sell them. Not exactly the most appetizing method of food preservation if you ask me, but there is no label on my tomatoes.
Guess what I’m trying to say is that if you’re going to label one food as being cancerous for having ingredient ‘X’ you need to examine all ingredients in all foods, and then label all foods that contain any trace amounts of harmful substances. Which opens up a whole new can of worms… what is a harmful substance? :ahh (Loaded question don’t take it to heart ha)
PS in terms of a business model, being able to synthesize a product 1000x sweeter than sucrose on a day to day basis is phenomenal and an exceptional way to lower costs. Personal consumption or not, pretty awesome chemical feat. (Not to mention one of the designers of the enzyme is my school adviser)
I didn’t even want to read this thread knowing what would be argued… It’s not about good or bad good… It’s about what is in both of these foods that we don’t know about. Do I consume both? Absolutely… But the more I learn the more I try to cut back on what is bad… Do research on GMO’s and Monsanto foods… You’ll be surprised quite a few times on what “good organic” foods are awful
The prepared food, yeah, yikes. I’m still talking even before it’s prepared. Cows don’t eat grass do they? Where did the corn they consume come from? That whole mess scares the life out of me.
It may open up a can of worms, but it may also create an environment where these companies find a more responsible alternative that has actually been tested or even use the real ingredient.
That is a wonderful accomplishment. Humans are naturally attracted to sweet things and that makes sense. The thing about some artificial sweeteners (not sure about the one you’re talking about) is that they don’t contain any actual sugar, the body still sees it as sugar, and will try to synthesize the sugar.
I love the advancements in chemistry and science, but a lot of the implementation has been less than exemplary. I know that with all of the resources that are available in today’s world, we can design something that won’t kill or maim you or the food supply.
Yeah this was getting pretty rough but definitely a good topic to discuss.
Not entirely sure the chemistry/enzyme work he did (never really filled me in/didn’t look into it much after that) but itd imagine some sort of dimerization between fucrose or something similar.
You’re correct in saying that with resources available we should definitely be able to it. But currently I’m a student in the biochemical/biophysical field and it seems like the major push is towards big pharma (which basically is like a correction of all the shit we put in food. Trying to fix what we created. But meh… different thread). I would hope food advancements come soon, because its pretty awful regardless of what you buy, organic/fresh/prepackaged. Maybe one day a larger majority of people will help make the push.
It is most definitely a good topic. There are many different things related to this one issue. Glad to see you’re going to be involved in this and actually know some of the ins and outs. Good luck in your studies!
My friend is currently going for his doctorate and was looking at another persons’ study on the effects of EDCs (endocrine disrupting chemicals) like BPA on fetal development. It’s scary stuff! May not be directly linked to our discussion here, but everyone has had something with BPA in it at some point!
Thank you – Yuck I could only imagine running an assay on something that smells like endocrine-anything. Haha where’s he doing his doctorate? Not entirely sure if Ill go directly into food “refabrication,” still have to finish out my BS and doctorate for god knows what - hopefully Case Western Reserve/somewhere comprable.
Its weird to look at all the shit in food, then look at the trends in life expectency. They both seem to correlate linearly. Haa My roomate once made the joke: ‘Maybe all of these preservatives are what is keeping us alive.’ Thought that was a pretty interesting/comical little momento
He’s at Cornell studying reproductive biology. Yeah it’s going to be a while, but definitely continue with something that you’re passionate about or will keep your interests peaked. Sounds like you have plenty of time to decide your doctorate path though!
LOL, maybe it’s true we grew up on the best batch :lol
Just watched Food Inc. today in my business ethics class. Lots of good info in there, and might actually make me change my mind on some of the shit I eat.
we grew up on the best batch :lol