I Want My Fad-Free Food

I guess it’s coming true, what I told our Quality Assurance and Food Safety magazine editor, when we first met. “I’m a QA and food safety curmudgeon.” I must have truly arrived at a stage in my life where I can allow myself to complain and push the envelope. So what is a curmudgeon? Here’s the Webster’s definition: “a person (especially an old man) who is easily annoyed or angered and who often complains.”

I’ve gotten tired of having to deal with all the latest certifications and marketing trends. It’s hard enough to keep up with ensuring consistent quality and assuring the smooth running of a department. But now we have to run out and get certified to handle anything that seems to crop up on the marketer’s list. Here’s a short list of what I’ll call recent fads that consumers now want on their plate. Organic, gluten-free, non-GMO, Halal, sustainable (however that may be defined because everyone seems to have different rules), socially responsible, free-range (for meats and poultry), wild-caught (for fish), corporate stewardship, carrageenan-free, rBST-free, vegetarian, no BVO, no artificial flavors (or colors), no preservatives, heirloom brands, natural, not sweetened with corn syrup. The list definitely goes on and on and on.

For me, I long for the days when I could buy a product and not have to worry about any of those things. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that being sustainable (per my definition) is valuable. There are other things I want to and will continue to think about when I buy groceries, but I get “annoyed or angered and often complain” about those who shove their agendas in my face—especially when they don’t have the science to back them. I can buy GMO, non-organic, or even artificially colored or sweetened foods and still care about environmentalism, sustainability, or any other program these trends/fads supposedly support. I can care without supporting a consumer group’s particular agenda. Let’s look at some of these to see what I mean.

GMOs. GMOs are not all bad and are not all good. Give me the scientific facts and let me decide. The science does not conclusively settle this muckraked discussion. Each side takes some evidence (sometimes even anecdotal evidence) and says they are right. Please present the facts only, and quit shoving your point of view at me. There are good GMOs and bad GMOs in my book. Putting a fish gene into a tomato to keep it from freezing and extending the growing season just seems wrong. Adding vitamins to rice (look up “golden rice”) to me seems like just the right ticket to better feeding and nourishing the world. Please take an individual approach when thinking about GMOs. P.S.—GMOs are not only a food issue, if you don’t want GMOs because you think they harm the environment, talk about the environment, not the food you get.

“Pink Slime,” a phrase coined by deterrents of lean finely textured beef, is a lost food safety tool because the “anti”-crowd got a message to the public that it is bad—without having any scientific evidence. The use of this technology to more efficiently use all meat from the animals and make a safe product (the treatment with citric acid or other legal additives) is now pretty much gone because of one attack. The consumer has been hurt and now must pay higher prices because of the lost technology and lower efficiencies.

Recombinant bovine somatotrophin (rBST) is another misnomer for the public. Each and every package that claims rBST-free comes with a disclaimer required by the FDA stating that there is no evidence that milk from rBST-treated cows is any different from non-treated cows. (The actual legal statement is: “No significant difference in milk from cows treated with artificial growth hormones.”) The science groups (FDA, NIH, WHO) have all independently stated that dairy products and meat from BST-treated cows are safe for human consumption. Consumers don’t even realize that cows naturally produce BST as a hormone for milk production, so milk can’t be tested for rBST because it is not different from the BST the cows produce every day. And yet, even with all this, we still have to put that silly disclaimer on the package.

The “scare tactics” over gluten and carrageenan are also fads. Some folks are gluten intolerant—most aren’t. Some people have an issue with digesting carrageenan—most don’t. There is no need to create a fad so that folks think it must be good. In addition, rather than being swayed by anecdotal “evidence” and changing their eating habits, consumers need to thoughtfully review the pure and applied science. And we need to provide that for them.

Another of my favorites is BVO—Brominated Vegetable Oil. Someone found out that BVO has two uses, one in food and one as a flame retardant. So what? The science groups have all determined it is safe for consumption in levels normally used. Many items in our lives have multiple uses. Trees are used to build houses and to make paper, to name just one. I would ask that all consumers (including those of us within the industry!) please think clearly, review all the data, and make a decision based on the science.

I’d also ask that you keep an eye on what your own marketing group is doing to ensure that they aren’t contributing to these tactics to promote your product. Marketers feed the fire when they cater to these non-scientific pundits using campaigns that are simply scare tactics and fear mongering. Some fear mongers ask the U.S. to use what the E.U. uses—the “precautionary principle.” That, to me, means: If it can’t be proven safe, it shouldn’t be allowed. If this were truly used, planes, trains, and automobiles would be banned because they cannot be proven safe. But does the E.U. ban them? Please use common sense when evaluating unscientific claims and don’t fuel the fire by doing what the fear mongers ask.

Where will it all end? To me, I just want my fad-free food. There’s a song put out by Dire Straits a few years ago, Money for Nothing. I’ve decided that song needed a new title: I Want My Fad Free Food. So find that old record or CD and sing along—with these lyrics—as you drive to work. Think about how we in the industry can correct the wrongs of these pundits and the fearful media. And enjoy.