What to Look Out for When Reading Labels
I don’t usually do this when grocery shopping, but the other day a certain product took me so much by surprise that I stopped, stared, and laughed out loud. (It was little embarrassing considering there were other shoppers nearby.) What was the product?
Organic pancake batter.
“What,” you ask, “is wrong with organic pancake batter?”
Nothing, usually, but this stuff was in a – wait for it – SPRAY CAN! You know – the same kind of can usually filled with processed “cheese” or whipped cream.
Being a camera-happy iPhone owner, I just had to take a picture of it, along with the ingredients list. 
In case you can’t read them in the picture, the ingredients are:
“Filtered water, organic wheat flour (unbleached), organic cane sugar, organic eggs, sodium lactate to inhibit spoilage, organic soybean powder, leavening (dicalcium phosphate and sodium bicarbonate), sea salt, organic rice bran extract….”
And last but not least, that most organic of all ingredients (please note the sarcasm): “propellant.”
Hmm….
No, thank you.
How are you at reading labels? If you’re new to it, there are some food additives you’ll want to keep an eye out for. If any of the following ingredients are on the label you’re reading, you should really just put the product back on the shelf.
Let’s start with that propellant. The ingredient most often used as propellant in the same type of can containing the pancake batter (and whipped cream, etc.), is nitrous oxide. According to Drug-Forum.com, it’s been known to “leave a residue similar to motor oil” in whipped cream chargers, “which can be potentially harmful to the user.” Yum, right? With motor oil residue on your pancakes, who needs syrup?
MSG is next. Short for monosodium glutamate, MSG is a “flavor enhancer” with a nasty reputation for causing allergic reactions. It’s also a known neurotoxin that, once you eat it, never leaves your body. Never. Almost everyone has consumed MSG at one time or another, but the point is to do your best to avoid it from now on, and that includes knowing the sneaky aliases it goes by. According to the site, The Carbohydrate Addict, you may be consuming monosodium glutamate (and free glutamates, which they go into detail about on their site) if you eat foods containing the following:
enzyme modified
anything fermented
anything protein fortified
anything ultra pasteurized
autolyzed yeast
barley malt
broth
bouillon
calcium caseinate
carrageen
flavoring
natural flavoring
gelatin
hydrolyzed oat flour
hydrolyzed vegetable
hydrolyzed protein
malt extract
maltodextrin
natural flavors,
pectin
plant protein extract
potassium glutamate
sodium caseinate
soy protein
soy sauce
stock
textured protein
whey protein
yeast extract
yeast food
Like I said…sneaky. (For further reading on how MSG is often hidden in your food, check out Truth in Labeling. )
Besides propellant and MSG, be on the lookout for the other usual criminals: sugar, high fructose corn syrup, different types of fat, white flour, unnecessary additives, and artificial sweeteners like sucralose (a.k.a. Splenda). Choose to keep natural foods in your cupboards as much as possible and make your own meals instead of eating out (especially at fast food joints). Your family may give you a tough time about it, but eventually – when they realize how good they feel – they’ll thank you!
©2010 Sally Dinius
Need a little help when it comes to knowing what to cook to get your family healthy? Try the Healthy Urban Kitchen Cookbook. You’ll get some helpful bonuses along with these tasty (and did I mention “healthy”?) recipes.
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Sally Dinius is writer-in-chief here at CrazyBusyMama.com, a blog created to inspire and motivate busy mamas everywhere to feel healthy, fit, and in control of their lives. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sdinius, and become a member of the CrazyBusy Mama Facebook fan page by clicking here.
Reading the label of any food product is very important. Many of us suffer from food allergies or have a personal aversion to certain additives or want to reduce intake of sodium.
I must take issue with linking nitrous oxide propellant to leaving a residue in whipped cream chargers similar to motor oil. What people are seeing is actually butter fat that has separated from the cream used in the charger. The same thing occurs if you use heavy cream in your coffee. While it is true that some nitrous propellant can have impurities, in the US, the nitrous is highly purified. “Many brands have been reported”…Drug-forum.com does not identify the brands. Check here for recalls http://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls/default.htm.
Again, I stress the need to check labels, but be careful of websites that do not have the facts correct. Also, we breathe 60% nitrogen.
Interesting, Eric…though I’ve yet to see black “butter fat.” Check it out…http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/nitrous/nitrous_info5.shtml, http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/show_image.php?i=nitrous%2Fnitrous_contaminant1.jpg.