WE ARE WHAT WE EAT

Eating is a real art, forgotten by our contemporaries. Unfortunately, unhurried family dinners and tea ceremonies have sunk into oblivion. In a crazy rhythm of weekdays, it often happens that we eat anyhow, anywhere and anything. We pay for that dearly – with our health. The most common food product can be fraught with lots of surprises. Remember, it isn’t enough to glance at the use-by date of a product, try to read the label to the end. Besides familiar words (such as sugar, fats, cream, butter), you’ll probably see all kinds of abbreviations and numbers of many figures. The secret is just in them. Whether your choice is correct will depend greatly on what is hidden behind those hieroglyphs.
Myths about bar-codes.
Now, almost any article has some intricate dashes and figures on it, called a bar-code. We are so used to see it on labels that we have started taking it for quality mark.  Now a bar-code has little to do with quality of goods. It was created not so much for consumers as for producers and, most importantly, for salespeople.

Long ago, in Soviet times, there were no bar-codes. Within the period of total scarcity, there were not so many goods, so, it wasn’t hard to orient oneself among them, and there was no need for an additional code. In present-day abundance, neither a salesman, nor a producer can remember all names. So, long certificates, describing goods, were replaced by brief and compact bar-codes.  A salesman has only to carry a product with its bar-code down above the cash register, and all necessary information will appear on the screen.

Now, bar-codes are used for almost all goods, available on the world market. Though, it’s no obligatory. A producer, if he wishes, has a right not to use bar-codes on his goods, especially as it costs much. To receive an article numbering, one is to pay a fee in one of the branch offices of the international system of article numbering (EAN), and then annually pay out a considerable sum of money to maintain the system. Though, producers prefer to go to expense as it’s almost impossible to sell an article without a bar-code (most stores refuse to take it).

In a bar–code, consisting of 13 figures (European standard), the first two figures denote the country, the next five figures denote the code of the enterprise, other 5 figures contain encoded information about consumer characteristics (the first one - the name of the article, the second one - certain consumer peculiarities, the third one - the weight of the article, the fourth one - its composition, the fifth one - its color). The last figure of a bar-code is the check figure, serving to authenticate the article.

The only thing a consumer can define from a bar code is the producing country, though, there are also some difficulties here. If the producing country indicated on the label doesn’t coincide with data of the bar-code, that doesn’t always mean that the article is a fake. Some firms that produce their goods in one country, register themselves in another country and place their branch offices in still other countries. It can also be a joint venture. On the whole, there are lots of reasons.

The way a bar-code looks is also a very subjective piece of information.  It can be narrow and short and even without any figures. Contracted bar-codes are also permitted.  Still, there’s one way to define the authenticity of the article using its bar-code:

1.     Remember the check figure in the bar-code. It’s the last one.

2.     Sum up figures that stand in even places.

3.     Multiply the sum you’ve received by 3 (the conditional result is X).  

4.     Sum up figures that are in odd places, except the check figure (the conditional result is Y).

5.     Add X to Y (X+Y).

6.     Remove the first figure from the result (it gives us Z).

7.     Subtract Z from 10 (10- Z)

The result must coincide with the check figure.  If these figures don’t coincide, the article is definitely a fake. It’s a complicated method, but there’s no other alternative.

We can’t do without additives.

Food additives can be found almost in all food-stuffs; on labels, they’re indicated with a mysterious letter E (as E194, E263, etc.) You can orient  yourself in this system  with the help of the first figures of  a bar-code: E -1* denotes dye-stuffs, E- 2* is used for preservatives (they prolong the shelf-life of  food-stuffs); E – 3* stands for antioxidants (they protect food-stuffs from oxidation); E – 4* is used  to denote stabilizers (they preserve food consistency and make it viscous); E-5* - emulgators (they create a homogeneous blend of unblendable phases, for instance water and oil); E1000+  - sweeteners, icing additives, etc.

Additives can be natural (beta-carotene, saffron, vinegar, salt, pepper, etc.) and synthetic. Exactly these synthetic additives have become a matter of heated arguments. Ecologists state that consumption of synthetic additives exerts a harmful influence on our health, as these are foreign substances to our body. Food-stuffs producers on the contrary try to prove that they are harmless, as every additive is thoroughly tested and used in strictly prescribed quantities (which aren’t harmful).  Both of the sides are right.

Not every additive is harmful. So far, only 5 of them have been prohibited in Russia:

-         dye-stuffs – E 121 (citrus red) and E123(amaranth);

-         preservative E248 (formaldehyde);

-         bread improvers E924a and E924b.

Two preservatives - E216 and E217 have been temporarily prohibited since 2005 (additional testing is conducted).

Though, on the other hand, by the time that a harmful effect of amaranth was discovered, it had been long used in production of aerated waters, lollipops, ice-cream and kissels. Amaranth turned out to be dangerous in any quantities, as it triggers growth of malignant tumors and causes fetal pathology in pregnant women.

Besides, there’s a number of additives which are neither prohibited nor permitted as they are being tested.

Unfortunately, present-day food industry can’t do without food additives. Nevertheless, a long list of E-codes on the label must put you on your guard, as well as a long shelf life (indicating that there’re preservatives in this food product). It would be reasonable to reduce eating sausage products, especially summer sausage, as they usually contain nitrates (E251, E252), and nitrites (E250, which in large concentrations act as carcinogens. No need to say, that the use of food-stuffs with additives is contraindicated to children. People, who are susceptible to allergies, should read all the list with E –codes thoroughly. Even absolutely healthy people shouldn’t neglect this information.

Food-stuffs- mutants.

According to data of Greenpeace, more than one third of all food-stuffs, available on the market, contain genetically modified ingredients (GMI). At the same time, do we pay much attention to this fact, rushing to a neighboring store?  Long ago, in Stalin’s times, genetics was in disgrace, so, actually, it wasn’t developing. A contemporary genetic engineer has overwhelming opportunities. He can take a gene of a plaice and introduce it into a tomato. Everything is Ok except for the fact that this tomato can be eaten by a human being. We can only guess how many of such “mutants” we eat every day.  Producers aren’t willing to reveal their secrets, though they must do it.  All food-stuffs, containing GMI must be marked.

This direction is successfully ignored. So, it’s almost impossible to define the presence of genetically modified ingredients in a food product with the help of its label, nevertheless, you should try.  Sometimes, producers let us know about it, having written the abbreviation “GMI” in small letters, somewhere “in the margins”.  

Prevalence of transgenic products is caused by cheapness of production of genetically modified food. It’s much easier to grow potatoes that are not eaten by the Colorado beetle. On the other hand, why not “listen to” Colorado beetles in this matter?  If such experts in potatoes don’t want to approach “a new variety”, that means something. By the way, bees never alight on transgenic plants. Only humans use them, and most often, they do it from ignorance.

Genetics’ statements, as to genetically modified products being harmless, aren’t grounded, as well as their opponents’ statements. That is, we don’t know how genetically modified ingredients influence the human body. A number of researchers adhere to the opinion that resulting in no negative consequences for the consumer himself, genetically modified products exert a harmful influence on his descendants. That’ why, transgenic food must be never eaten by children and pregnant women.

We shouldn’t expect producers to be honest with marking their products. For them, it amounts to a suicide. In the meanwhile, the only organization (for instance in Russia) that somehow takes control of this process is Greenpeace.

Most often, genetically modified components can be found in food- stuffs, made of potatoes (chips), tomatoes (tomato sauces, ketchup), tinned corn, and certainly, in food products, containing soy.  Soy is very healthful. Unfortunately, it’s almost always genetically modified. It can be found in meat and sausage products, convenience foods, pâtés, etc. If there’s a “vegetable protein” in the composition of a food product, that means, it’s soy.

We should be very cautious about American products. The USA is the world largest exporter of transgenic products.  GMI are used by such world –famous companies as Coca-Cola, Nestle and others.  It would be silly to think that fast food cheeseburgers and hamburgers don’t contain soy.

But the saddest thing about it is that genetically modified soy is added to children’s nutrition. Three years ago, there was a row as to the children’s nutrition, produced by the firm “Humana”. Several children in Israel died, as the feeding formula didn’t contain vitamin B1, indispensable to the development of the nervous system. Scientists believe that the mysterious disappearance of the element is induced by unpredictable behaviour of transgenic soy, present in the formula. Young mothers should know that the safest nutrition for their babies is breast milk. Those mums, who have decided to refuse from advantages of breast feeding, should visit the site of Greenpeace to see what feeding formulae were tested for GMI. Be sure, everyone can find some useful information on this site.

Technical achievements have made our life easier and more comfortable.  Unfortunately, not every achievement of our civilization exerts a good influence on our health. It should be taken into consideration before we rush to the supermarket and grab everything we see. Remember! We are what we eat!

06.02.2006. Lyudmila Gorshkova.