As I walk down the aisles of supermarkets today, I note the ever increasing beautifully packaged products. I’m also aware the consumer has greater choice in canned, bottled and packaged products. Then I reflect to when I was a kid going through the grocery stores of the times. I instantly recall the processed food selections were few in comparison. And the canned foods I enjoyed during my youth compared to the similar products today has changed dramatically.
45 years ago, I was old enough to recall these experiences and understand there was nowhere near the selection of manufactured canned products I see today. And many of the canned foods my mother stored in the garage had a shelf life that was not even half the life of today’s equivalent product. I remembered this well because there were a few canned foods I loved as a kid. One was a spaghetti product and the other was ravioli, and believe it or not, canned spinach [I know, I was a rare kid].
I do remember my mother rotating her canned inventory. And I also remember opening a can that sat “less than a year” and had spoiled. Back in the day, canned food products had short shelf lives for lack of chemical preservatives.
Today, there are dozens of competing canned goods. And one would think at least one of them would have the quality of freshness that I recalled canned foods had during my childhood. And even though I recently tried the most popular, most expensive canned brand foods I loved as a kid, they are absolutely disgusting in taste. So then, I had to understand if it was just me, or the product had changed that much. And if the product changed, why would a manufacturer change a winning combination in quality and flavor? Could it be we’ve become a nation addicted to food chemicals? Or that family no longer understands what good organic food tastes like anymore for lack of gathering and preparation time to make an organic meal?
So a week ago I recalled another favorite canned food I enjoyed as a kid. It was a popular brand fruit cocktail mix. I still recall the flavors which were akin to taking fresh fruits, chopping them up in the kitchen and adding a tad of sweetening mix, stir and served in a bowl. This particular canned mixed fruit was fantastic and served as a quick dessert during the times. This canned product would also go bad in a year if not used. I believe the canning practices of the times by the manufacturers were much like my mother’s seasonal canning practices. If you didn’t eat these canned foods in a year, they likely go bad.
I went over to my mother’s house the other day. She basically buys the same canned brand named products I recall as a kid, stores them on the same shelves and in the same location. I found the same canned cocktail fruit mix and opened it. The product looked good, but the smell was different. I could smell the sweetened liquid, but couldn’t smell the fruit in the liquid like I recalled as a kid. I thought that’s strange. I then launched into the fruit and quickly noted, there was no to very little flavor for anyone of the individual fruits. Even though I could distinguish by site a pineapple, peach, pear, grape, cherry, the only thing distinguishable about eating a few bites of the mixed fruit was the texture [and that was even kind of weird]. It was absolutely disgusting, so I tossed it. Much like the spaghetti and ravioli’s I tried not to long ago. Absolutely gross!
I know, you’re thinking my palate has changed because I’ve become more refined with age, or have become too sophisticated. Well, my wife would differ with you in knowing that my meal preferences are anything but high society. I’m more likely to be described by many that know me well as a retired military man that still thoroughly enjoys eating an MRE (Meal Ready to eat), just like a canned food item. You see, the fruit did not fall far from the tree as far as my childhood eating preferences go throughout my adult life.
It would also help you to understand, I’m one of those guys that will eat cold spinach, sweet beans and chili out of a can. Yah I know, my wife still doesn’t understand it, laughs at me and says, “You really can’t be enjoying that.” But I do, I’ve been eating out of cans since I was a kid raiding my mom’s cellar. And this does not mean my mother was a horrible cook. Not at all, she was one of the best cooks in the neighborhood. I have many childhood friends that showed up to eat at my house because of my mother’s fantastic sense of concocting home cooked meals. And in many of these cases, there were no canned foods built into these recipes.
And although I don’t eat canned foods this way often, I still will go to the cabinet, grab a can, open it and eat it on the fly. But the difference today, it’s getting harder to find a canned selection that still tastes good enough to consume cold like that. There are very few manufacturers today that can produce foods with little preservative and additives. And when there are too many of these chemicals the food tastes gross and upsets your digestive system. And there you have it, the decline of my out-of-the can meal habit has dwindled due to cheapened additive ingredients, manipulation of agricultural processes and many more preservatives than one can count on your hand to extend shelf life.
Much has changed within our agriculture, processing, packaging, storage and transportation of food to market. And the younger generations have accepted these practices and products as normal and good quality farmed and processed packaged foods.
I’ve even noted my mother stopped rotating the hundreds of canned food products in her cellar. I think this is because any can that she has opened in the last 15 years hadn’t spoiled to remind her to keep pace with her rotation practices. I wonder if she realizes her canned products have not spoiled. In some cases, I know some of these items have been sitting on those shelves a long time. I can say this, because I opened a few of these old timers to help with a family meal that were dated “best to be consumed, Like Five Years Ago!” I was shocked, there was no blackened, or spoilage smell to the product. Gads! I picked around these foods, ate very little as I enjoyed the more organic portions of the meal.
Of course, during my early experiences with food and now thinking about today’s farming and food processing practices leads me to wonder about our entire national food bank. If the quality and purity of our food in cans had deteriorated in quality and nutrient value, then it was reasonable to assume other processed foods had experienced the same fate. And what does this mean to our overall health?
So in doing a little research, I soon realized and as I suspected, it wasn’t just my pallet, or imagination. As a matter of fact, it’s a good thing I had the experience as a kid to know what organic food should look, smell and taste like. In the long run, I’m better off relating to these experiences, because I can identify and more likely prefer a canned product that is close to organic quality, that may only be slightly tainted with additives and preservatives [somehow this makes me feel a little better about eating these foods]. And in understanding the reality of the food bank situation, I know I need to stay knowledgeable about how much and how often I consume certain types of processed foods that won’t make me feel sick. Let alone acquire some insidious disease should I become addicted to a food chemical like aspartame for example (artificial sweeteners in thousands of food products known to cause cancer).
Let’s face it. We still must eat. And many of our foods are processed with chemicals. But we still do have choice in the marketplace over foods we purchase. And there are still processed foods that are better for us than others. And in being able to identify better to worse food choices makes a big difference on your weight, appearance, energy and the way you feel; and quality living experiences as we age.
Reflecting back to your childhood, if you spent it during the 60 and70’s then I’m sure you’ll be able to relate to the food you ate then and what you eat today. And that not only does it taste different, it has very different packaging features that are eye appealing to kids. Why, because if the kids get addicted to the chemicals in them, they make your life hell in the store by screaming for the product. So you continue purchasing it for them to shut down their tantrums [hence our national childhood obesity epidemic caused by artificial sweeteners and other chemical food additives wins!].
I’ve found other underlying safety concerns you should be aware. There have been many changes within our farming, food, storage, decontamination of foods and transportation of them. Here are a few tidbits of information if not aware, can provide enough knowledge about farmed food technologies that could put your family’s health at risk.
I did a little research and here’s what I came up with. And even if you didn’t eat food out of the can’s like I did, and don’t relate with my food analogy; I’m sure you’ll find interest and concern with what has occurred within the farming and food processing industries. And what I present represents the dwindling production of safe, high quality, high nutrient foods for purchase in our local markets.
In large part, the later 20th and early 21st Century farming practices changed to produce the volume necessary to meet a processed, fast food global food demand. And as the demand changed to meet consumer expectation in distant markets, so too did the farming and processed food industries. Further organic erosion of our food bank occurred as many farming and food industry operations were outsourced. These large corporate agricultural and processing corporations were relocated where volume production was more cost effective and also lacked federal regulation. Some would argue the quality of the food has further deteriorated for lack of U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) crack down on GMO’s (Genetically Modified Organisms). And that genetically engineered foods should be labeled as a consumer right to know. Well that hasn’t happened!
That’s right; many consumers don’t know that 70% of our processed foods are “now” genetically engineered. Ingredients that are now genetically modified can be found in such common household baking products: corn syrup, soy lecithin, sugar, vegetable and cottonseed oil, etc. You wonder, what’s GMO? These are genetically modified seeds that can resist Herbicide-tolerant (HT) crops that can survive a deluge of chemicals that would otherwise kill, or severely stunt a crop. There are also other types of crops engineered to produce toxins, which kill certain insect pests.
Now the next thing you want to know, are GMO crops raised for consumption safe? Here’s your bellwether… 30 other countries around the world, including Japan, and Australia and all countries within the European Union have significant restrictions or outright bans on the production of GMOs. Why is this? Because they are not proven to be safe for human consumption! And yet, here in the United States, depending where you get your information from, 86% of corn and 93% of soybeans grown here is genetically modified! Since agricultural, farming and food processing locations are all over the map, the only way you can ensure the foods on your dinner table is organic is to purchase foods that are labeled “certified organic.”
Other than this, I’m not sure how you’d know in the long run if the staple foods you consume wouldn’t have some adverse impact on your physiology, or metabolisms health. What further compromises GMO produced foods as being safe, is also the fact that heavy use of antibiotics has contributed to the rise of a drug-resistant super germs within these agricultural growth practices. And that these bugs also now reside within a “super weed” colony growing alongside these crops. It is now necessary to use more herbicide and pesticides to keep them under control, then ever before. Can you see the problem here?
One important statistic that’s worth mentioning here: According to the research conducted by The Organic Center, Genetically Engineered (GE) crops have increased herbicide use in the United States over the last 13 years (1996-2008) by 383 million pounds! And although much of the GE crops are used to feed livestock in wealthier countries as opposed to people in poorer countries the metabolized product in livestock is still being consumed within the worlds market one way or the other by humans.
Genetically engineered foods are one thing and processing of the foods and getting them to market is another. I don’t believe you could notice the taste difference in a GE raw crop food, like corn, or soy bean. But once all the additives for taste and preservative are added during the processing of the food, you should understand you now have a “manmade complex grown product” that could cause ill-health and disease and also does not taste the same as its organic counter parts.
This is because the more man manipulates our food source with science, chemical additives and preservatives; the more likely it is we’ll get sick from these products and unable to prove these ill-health connections. Why’s that? Because targeting foods that make us sick is an epidemiologist’s worse nightmare. This task would be very difficult since we eat so many different types or processed and engineered foods within this nation. Targeting the many potential types of GE foods and chemical culprits would be difficult to prove medically and in any court of law. Many of the processed food chemicals we now consume through our fast food chains and processed long life products are now known to cause cancer, diabetes, hypertension, congenital heart, liver and kidney failure and obesity.
Would you like to know a good test to determine if the processed foods you eat on a regular basis are safe for consumption? Simply pick an ingredient off a product label you can’t pronounce. Then go to your favorite Internet search engine and type in the “ingredient chemical name” and health risk.” You’ll be shocked what you read! If you can’t pronounce it, or understand it’s meaning, it’s likely a chemical added by man to improve taste, kill microorganisms, improve appearance, or increase the shelf life of the product, or any other number of reasons to modify our foods has occured!
In thinking about GE crop foods like corn; yes, I was notorious for eating corn out of the can as well. Why? Because it had the natural sweetened taste, with the snappy starch texture of corn I remembered from our garden. It was fantastic! But the same is “not” true of the same brand corn in the can today. Like the canned spinach I loved as a kid and young adult, I don’t eat these canned products anymore, not even cooked [instead I buy frozen]. Why? Because it doesn’t resemble the taste, texture or smell of what these foods should taste like out of the garden. I know, many of you reading this will think there are no canned foods that ever tasted good. Now to your pallet this may be true. But as I’m one that experienced a shift in quality of particular products in cans starting at a very young age, I can tell you, there is a big difference in the canned products today.
It appears as we became a global fast food market, where high volume and processed food technology evolved throughout the 80’s, so too did the quality of the foods in our kitchens and local restaurants.
If you go on-line and simply search under GMO, GE farming and agricultural-farming, herbicide/pesticide, canning, warehousing and transportation practices; you’ll then begin to understand why our kids are getting sick and obese, why cancer is on the rise in our nation and why our health care costs are out of control.
If you want to provide safer and more organic foods on your table, simply read your food labels and prepare more foods using raw products from the butcher, select from raw food bins (fresh fruits and vegetable, or frozen) and prepare more of your own meals instead of ones that are microwave ready. Also, if you can’t eat a canned product cold, chances are it’s loaded with stuff you don’t want to be putting in your body. The big tip here… The fewer times man has handled and processed the foods you consume the better it will taste and healthier it will be for you and your family.
References,
Whitman, Deborah B. Genetically Modified Foods: Harmful or Helpful? April 2000. http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php
Organic It’s Worth It Home Site. GMO’s 101. http://www.organicitsworthit.org/quick/gmos-101?gclid=CJK8ocvBta8CFYSh4godA3vTjA
Genomics.energy.gov Home Site. Human Genome Project Information http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/gmfood.shtml
True Organic Products Home Site. True Organic Fertilizer. http://www.trueorganicproducts.net/?gclid=CNaxuJDDta8CFcek4godJzR9iQ
USDA Farm Bill Forum Comment Summary and Background. Organic Farming. http://www.usda.gov/documents/ORGANIC_FARMING.pdf
Jeanroy, Amy. Definition of Oganic Pesticides. eHow Home. http://www.ehow.com/facts_7553058_definition-organic-pesticides.html
Marc T. Woodard, MBA, BS Exercise Science, USA Medical Services Officer, CPT, RET. 2012 Copyright, All rights reserved, Mirror Athlete Publishing @: http://www.mirrorathlete.com, Sign up for your Free eNewsletter.
