Food Fraud What Are You Really Eating

7/30/2019 Food Fraud What Are You Really Eating

1/3

Call Toll Free: 877-985-2695

Food Fraud: What Are You Really Eating?May 04, 2013 | 37,600 views |

By Dr. Mercola

When you order sushi at your favorite restaurant or pick up a pound of coffeefrom your local supermarket, you assume youre getting the red snapper or Columbian beans as stated on the menu or label.

But not so fast. A growing number of cases of food fraud are occurring in theUnited States, such that you may not be able to tell what youre really eating

just by looking at the label.

Worse still, most of these cases are not highly publicized incidents like therecent scandal of UK supermarkets selling beef burgers that actually

contained horse and pig meat. Instead, theyre ongoing cases of blatantmisrepresentation among some incredibly common foods.

What Is Food Fraud?

Food fraud, defined as the deliberate substitution, addition, tampering or misrepresentation of food, food ingredients or food packaging, or false or misleading statements made about a product for economic gain, is the focusof the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention's (USP) Food Fraud Database, whichalready has more than 1,300 records of food fraud published from 1980 to2010.

A recent update, which added in cases from 2011 and 2012, increased thenumber of records by 60 percent , or nearly 800 new records, and includessome foods you very well may eat every day, like olive oil, honey, seafood and

orange juice.

In some cases, the foods were diluted with ingredients not listed on the label. Inothers, the food was something entirely different than it claimed to be.

Still others contained undisclosed clouding agents, including the cancer-causing, reproductive-system-damaging plasticizer Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate(DEHP), which was added to fruit juices in order to make them appear freshlysqueezed. USP found that 877 food products from 315 different companiescontained fake clouding agents.

In every case, the food fraud revealed that what you think youre eating may befar from reality, and the manipulation of food and food ingredients may be far more widespread than anyone realized. Dr. Jeffrey Moore, senior scientificliaison for USP, explained:

"While food fraud has been around for centuries, with a handful of notorious cases well documented, we suspect that what we know about the topic is just the tip of the iceberg.

The 10 Most Common Fraudulent Foods

1. Olive Oil

Even extra virgin olive oil is often diluted with other less expensive oils, including hazelnut, soybean, corn, sunflower,palm, sesame, grape seed and walnut.

2. Milk

Milk was found to contain vegetable oil, whey, caustic soda, cane sugar, detergent and even toxic compounds likemelamine and formaldehyde.

3. Honey

1

2

3

1

2

3

4

5

Most Popular

How to Find the Healthiest Fare in Meatand Produce Aisles

Is There Reason to Worry About NewMost Lethal Bird Flu Strain?

Does Cracking Your Knuckles CauseArthritis?

Might Electron Deficiency Be anUnderlying Factor in Most ChronicDisease?

How Iodine Deficiency May Affect Your Child's Brain Function and IQ

Shocking Report IdentifiesMassive Seafood FraudAcross the US85,414 Views

Plastic and CancerousCompounds in Tea BagsASurprising Source of PotentialToxins349,088 Views

Beef Burgers Made of HorseMeat and Salmonella Outbreakfrom Ground Beef -- TheUnsavory Truth of RisingFood Fraud andContamination294,467 Views

You Might Also Like

Story at-a-glance

The U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention's (USP)Food Fraud Database contains more than 1,300records of food fraud published from 1980 to2010

A recent update, which added in cases from2011 and 2012, increased the number of recordsby 60 percent, or nearly 800 new records, andincludes some foods you may eat everyday, likeolive oil, honey, fish and orange juice

Food fraud, in which foods are intentionallydiluted with other ingredients or misrepresentedon the label, is common among milk, spices, fruit

juice, seafood and oils

Whole, unprocessed foods ideally purchasedfrom a local farmer, farmers market or food coop

are those that will be best for your health aswell as least vulnerable to fraud

Food Fraud: What Are You Really Eating? http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/20...

1 of 3 5/10/13 4:37 PM


2/3

Honey is often not honey but instead a mix of high-fructose corn syrup, sucrose syrup, invert beet sugar, water andessential oils.

4. Saffron

Its the worlds most expensive spice, but it often contains adulterants such as glycerin, sandalwood dust, tartrazine(yellow dye), barium sulfate, borax, marigold flowers and even colored corn strings.

5. Orange Juice

Lemon juice, sugar water, paprika extract, marigold flower extract, and a synthetic sugar/acid mixture may all be lurkingin your favorite orange juice.

6. Coffee

Coffee, whether ground or instant, is a likely source of hidden ingredients like roasted corn, ground parchment, barley,coffee twigs, potato flower, malt, chicory and caramel.

7. Apple Juice

This childhood favorite may contain corn syrup, raisin sweetener, malic acid, beet sugar and other juices, such asgrape, pineapple, pear and fig.

8. Tea

Hiding inside your tea bag may be sand, sawdust, starch, China clay, used tea leaves and color additives. Some tea

bags, meanwhile, are made with plastic, such as nylon, thermoplastic, PVC or polypropylene. While these plastics havehigh melting points, the temperature at which the molecules in polymers begin to break down is always lower than themelting point, which could allow the bags to leach compounds of unknown health hazards into your tea when steeped inboiling water.

Even paper tea bags are frequently treated with epichlorophydrin, which hydrolyzes to 3-MCPD when contact withwater occurs. 3-MCPD is a carcinogen associated with food processing that has also been implicated in infertility andsuppressed immune function.

9. Fish

Seafood fraud is actually very widespread, as according to the nonprofit ocean protection group Oceana, nearly 60percent of fish labeled "tuna" in the US is not actually tuna. A shocking 84 percent of white tuna sold in sushi venueswas actually escolar, a fish associated with acute and serious digestive effects if you eat just a couple of ounces.

One-third of all fish samples tested across the US were found to be mislabeled, substituted for cheaper, less desirable

and/or more readily available fish varieties. For instance, 87 percent of fish sold as snapper was actually some other type of fish, and the USP found that monkfish was sometimes actually puffer fish, which can also cause poisoning.

10. Black Pepper

This spice is often adulterated with juniper berries, papaya seeds, starch, buckwheat flour and millet seeds. Other foodsthat made frequent appearances in the fraudulent food database include:

Turmeric Chili powder Cooking oil

Shrimp Lemon juice Maple syrup

Reading Food Labels Is No Longer Enough to Ensure Healthful Food

It seems quite clear at this point that food fraud is on the rise, and while many have started reading food labels, those labelsare increasingly being found to be less than truthful. Even if your food is not being illegally diluted with undisclosedadulterants (or being misrepresented as a different food entirely), many corporations hire lawyers to carefully craft words thatare just barely on the side of being legal. Each of the following label items are often used in deceptive ways that may leadyou to buy a product you'd otherwise avoid:

Vitamin and mineral claims1.

The "All Natural" label2.

The "Organic" label3.

Misleading nutritional facts4.

Dangerous ingredients not required to be listed on any food label5.

For instance, labels like "all-natural" and "organic" can also be sorely misleading. The first means virtually nothing when itcomes to processed foods, and the only organic label worth paying attention to is the USDA Organic seal. Nutritional facts,

4


2 of 3 5/10/13 4:37 PM


3/3

[+] Comments (39)

[+] Sources and References

meanwhile, can be off by up to 20 percent before breaking any regulations, and currently you have no way of knowing if afood contains genetically modified ingredients as labeling is not required.

While reading labels on the products you buy is important, when it comes to food, you're far better off limiting or eliminatingfoods that require extensive labeling or listing of ingredients in the first place. Whole foods the kind that have little to nolabeling at all are those that will be best for your health as well as least vulnerable to fraud.

Tips for Avoiding Food Fraud and Finding Safe, Healthful Foods

If you value food safety and authenticity, you'll want to get your produce, meat, chickens, eggs and dairy from smaller community farms with free-ranging animals, organically fed and locally marketed. This is the way food has been raised anddistributed for centuries ...

The closer your foods are to the way theyre found in nature, and the closer you are to the actual source of your food, thegreater your changes of finding pure, unadulterated food for your family. When you buy the bulk of your food from a localfarmer or community-supported agriculture (CSA) program, you can get to know the person who is supplying your food andeven ask questions about its growing conditions.

This way, when you pick up a gallon of, preferably raw, milk or a jar of honey, youll know its pure and exactly as its beingrepresented. Most people should be able to find a farmers market, local farm or CSA in their area (see the infographic belowfor resources), but in the event youre still buying some of your food at chain supermarkets, the following tips can help you tofind REAL food:

Choose food in the least processed form possible, such as lemons instead of bottled lemon juice and whole blackpepper or coffee beans in lieu of ground

1.

When buying fish, purchase the whole fish whenever possible, which makes it more difficult to switch species. Also, if the price seems too low, its probably because youre buying a different fish than is actually on the label

2.

Stick with stores and brands that you know and trust; while not a foolproof strategy, natural food stores generally have abetter track record than big box stores or chain supermarkets

3.

If you want to learn more about the types of food fraud that may be impacting foods you commonly eat, you can both searchthe USP database and report fraud directly at www.foodfraud.org.


3 of 3 5/10/13 4:37 PM

Food Fraud What Are You Really Eating

Documents

Transcript of Food Fraud What Are You Really Eating