Some of us are aware that our food contains GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) but what many people including myself have not realized is that we are also consuming a unnecessary harmful chemical that has been added into our food called azodicarbonamide also called ADA. Many manufactures have added ADA into our foods in order to preserve a longer shelf life. Sadly azodicarbonamide is the same chemical that is found in making soles of shoes and yoga mats. I love doing yoga but not enough to eat my mat nor would I feed this to my family.
I stumbled upon this information after rushing out at 6:30 last night
to the local grocer, Sobeys, to find something quick and easy to make for dinner. I decided to buy Teti authentic Pizza dough. Like most people I believed fresh is good, well I was sadly mistaken. When I began to make the pizza something felt really strange. The dough was very plasticity. I was in a rush, I had to work at 8pm and I left my wife to get the pizza from the oven and feed our son but the pizza was inedible and my son nor my wife could eat it. There was obviously a real problem. The next day I was curious and I then looked at the ingredients and I noticed Azocarbonamide. I remember reading about this chemical online some months ago, as it is used to make yoga mats and shoe soles, I was astounded and began to dig a little deeper and this is what I discovered.
I found some news article that states “Health Canada insists a chemical found in hamburger buns and doughnuts — as well as yoga mats and shoe soles — is safe to eat”[1]. This chemical was also found in other well known brands and fast food chains in Canada and the USA, if you live in Europe of Australasia it’s different but here companies such as: – ” Ball Park, Butternut, Country Hearth, Fleischman’s, Food Club, Harvest Pride, Healthy Life, Jimmy Dean, Joseph Campione, Kroger, Little Debbie, Mariano’s, Marie Callendar’s, Martin’s, Mother’s, Pillsbury, Roman Meal, Sara Lee, Schmidt, Shoprite, Safeway, Smucker’s, Sunbeam, Turano, Tyson, Village Hearth, Wonder” [6] as well in, the ” buns and yeast-based doughnut sold by Tim Horton’s, the pizza dough and garlic bread at Pizza Hut, the English muffins and most buns that top McDonald’s burgers, and the four-inch seeded bun that KFC uses for its BLT Deluxe and Zinger BLT sandwiches, to name a few” [5]. This ingredient is almost in everything we consume!
“Health Canada’s most recent assessment of the additive and its chemical by-products relies on what its own scientists have called “incomplete” and “poor quality” research” [5]. “A key study to gauge Canadians’ risk of exposure was based on data collected in 1972, and the federal government admitted it has not established a safe, acceptable daily intake — which raises alarm among some food safety experts” [5]. So the question remains, how much is safe?
“A 2003 review by the European Food Safety Authority found embryo-fetal death and cleft palates in surviving fetuses of pregnant rats given high doses of semicarbazide,’ which is one of the chemical Azocarbonamide breaks down into during bread making.’ Also this showed skeletal deformations and lung and vascular cancer in females (but not males) mice dosed through food or water, and malformations of the brain and kidneys and bleeding in other rats injected with high doses” [5]. In addition, “according to the World Health Organization, workers handling large volumes have reported respiratory symptoms and skin sensitization, but ADA has not undergone extensive testing of its potential to harm human health” [6]. Subsequently Azocarbonamide has been banned in Australia and Europe. And in “Europe since 2005 it has even been banned for use as a plastic in the food industry, such as the lid on a jam jar” [2].
The standard of approval for food additives are clearly not monitored to establish a safe haven for our overall health. When determining our risk factors they clearly follow a vague guideline. The “Law prohibits the use of chemicals suspected of causing cancer, government and industry are often preoccupied with whether an additive is capable of doing just that” [5]. Shouldn’t their studies be broadened to look at other health factors?
According to the “Federal Drug Administration in the USA say that ADA is unnecessary to produce adequate food products” [3]. Although, it has been approved to allow manufactures to add it into our food so that the product sustains a longer shelf life.
In fact, it is old news that SubWay, who I mention in the video,[4] who have in the last few months, completely removed ADA from their bread products they at least responded to online pressure to do so. Unfortunately, other food chains like McDonalds and Tim Horton’s when asked about when they plan to find a alternative ingredient have ” emphasized the popularity of the government-approved ingredient and referred questions of safety to Health Canada. Neither chain indicated plans to alter its recipes” [5].
I don’t know how you feel but I certainly am not going to risk the side effects nor do I find my flip flops appetizing. We need to dive deeper into what is really in our foods, what are we feeding our families and what are the long term effects of consumption. Just because it may look good and has a stamp of government approval doesn’t mean it is safe!
Written by: Richard Flook
What do you think about Genetically Modified Foods? In my free 7 chapter e-book> Why Shouldn’t I eat Genetically Modified foods?’ I explain how the food that we eat is slowly making us sick.
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Sources
1. http://www.crfa.com/news/2014/what_you_need_to_know_about_azodicarbonamide.asp
2. Azodicarbonamide Wikipedia june 2014
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azodicarbonamide
3. U.S. Food and Drug Administration – Frequently Asked Questions on Azodicarbonamide (ADA), June 2014
http://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/FoodAdditivesIngredients/ucm387497.htm#breakdown
4. Website shown in video
http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/what-s-azodicarbonamide-and-why-is-subway-removing-it-from-bread-1.1672924
5. http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/03/01/health_canadas_allclear_on_ada_questioned_by_skeptics.html
6. http://www.ewg.org/research/nearly-500-ways-make-yoga-mat-sandwich
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