The Defender’s Big Food NewsWatch brings you the latest headlines related to industrial food companies and their products, including ultra-processed foods, food additives, contaminants, GMOs and lab-grown meat and their toxic effects on human health. The views expressed in the excerpts from other news sources do not necessarily reflect the views of The Defender.
More Evidence to Ban Energy Drinks for Children, Study Finds
The sale of all energy drinks to young people and children in the U.K. should be banned, says a review of the latest evidence on their effects on health.
It highlighted links to more risks than previously found, such as anxiety, stress and suicidal thoughts. These drinks often contain high levels of caffeine and sugar and are sold as providing an energy boost.
On the back of the review, 40 health-related organizations have written a letter to Health Secretary Victoria Atkins to repeat the call for sales of energy drinks to be further restricted.
Energy drinks are marketed as giving a physical and mental boost, and providing more energy than standard soft drinks. It is a huge and growing market, and up to a third of U.K. children drink them every week.
Colorado Father Urges Lawmakers to Limit Sale of Food Preservative Being Used in Suicides
A Colorado father, driven by grief, is pushing to make Colorado among the first states in the country to regulate the sale of sodium nitrate. The preservative, used to cure meat, is deadly in its concentrated form, which is widely available online and in some sporting goods stores. Bruce Brown’s son is among a growing number of people who have used it to end their lives.
Bennet Brown hid the depth of his despair from everyone but an online group with a perverse mission — to facilitate death. Instead of helping save lives, their website helps end them by using sodium nitrate.
Brown says his son didn’t want to die but by the time he sought help it was too late. It wasn’t until months later he learned of the trail of deaths from sodium nitrate. He sounded an alarm at the state capitol.
“The more families we hear from that have had this happen, so across the country, it’s on the rise,” said state Rep. Judy Amabile, who has introduced a bill to ban the sale of sodium nitrate in Colorado, except to those with commercial licenses. The bill would also require manufacturers to specify on the label that it’s a poison and how to reverse it.
Scientists Tricked Our Brains Into Craving Ultra-Processed Foods — and Now People Are Fighting Back
The quick inventory I took of my kitchen (which didn’t include my snack drawer) made it painfully clear I needed to do more homework on ultra-processed foods (UPFs), why we buy so much of them and how we can break this bad habit, which new research shows is a leading cause of obesity in North America. In the U.S., more than 42% of Americans are considered obese (according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). In Canada, it’s 27% (Health Canada).
Given the negative publicity swirling around these aggressively modified foods, it seems preposterous that we continue to consume so much. The reason might be that we can’t help ourselves.
Michael Moss, the author and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist (for a series he did on contaminated meat) blames the major food companies. “Big Food has made a science of hooking us on the ‘bliss point’ of sugar, the ‘flavor burst’ of salt and the ‘mouthfeel’ of fat, to use industry parlance,” says Moss.
In his latest book called Hooked: Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions, Moss compares food cravings with compulsions for nicotine and heroin. “People say to me, ‘It’s ridiculous to compare cookies to heroin.’ But these products are designed by some of the top scientists in the world to get the perfect formulation of salt, sugar and fat to get us not just to like these products but to want more and more of them.
Which Proteins Contain the Most Microplastics?
If you’re eating protein, you could be ingesting hundreds of tiny pieces of plastic each year, research finds. A new study by researchers with the nonprofit Ocean Conservancy and the University of Toronto found microplastics — tiny particles ranging from one micrometer (one-thousandth of a millimeter) to half a centimeter in size — in nearly 90 percent of protein food samples tested.
The researchers analyzed more than a dozen different types of common proteins that could wind up on the average American’s plate, including seafood, pork, beef, chicken, tofu and several plant-based meat alternatives. They estimated that an American adult could consume, on average, at least 11,000 microplastic pieces per year, according to the study published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Pollution.
The study’s findings provide further evidence of the ubiquity of small plastic particles — which have been discovered everywhere from Antarctic snow to inside human bodies — and how they can end up in the food we eat and the water we drink, Leonard said. Research has documented microplastics in fruits and vegetables as well as other food products like salt, sugar, rice and milk.
It’s long been known that microplastics can be found in the digestive tracts of fish and shellfish, but the new research sheds light on the likely presence of the plastic pieces in parts of seafood that are typically eaten, such as fish fillets, as well as popular land-based proteins like beef, chicken and pork.
Increasing BMI in Kids Tied to 100% Fruit Juice Consumption — Findings Support Guidance Limiting Such Beverages in Young Children, Researcher Says
Daily consumption of 100% fruit juice was associated with a small increase in body mass index (BMI) in children, while an association between consumption and weight gain among adults appeared mixed, a systematic review and meta-analysis found.
In prospective cohort studies involving kids, each 8-oz serving of 100% fruit juice was associated with a 0.03 increase in BMI (95% CI 0.01-0.05), a link that appeared to be driven by younger children, reported Vasanti Malik, MSc, ScD, of the University of Toronto, and colleagues.
The findings “support public health guidance to limit the consumption of 100% fruit juice, especially for young children,” said co-author Michelle Nguyen, HBSc, also of the University of Toronto, adding that whole fruit rather than fruit juices should be recommended, with water as the drink of choice.
PepsiCo CEO on Leadership, Ultra-Processed Foods, and Weight-Loss Drugs
PepsiCo (PEP) chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta isn’t a fan of the ultra-processed food label being increasingly slapped onto big food makers.
“I don’t like the word ultra-processed, and I don’t believe in it,” Laguarta told Yahoo Finance Live in an exclusive interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday. “I think we are using kitchen logic to define our product.”
In the meantime, Wall Street has continued to weigh in — mostly by putting pressure on the stock prices — on the impact on Big Food companies from the rising popularity of weight-loss drugs.
The maker of Pepsi soda and Lays chips hammered Wall Street profit estimates, with the company notching sales gains in all its business segments, save for Africa/Middle East. PepsiCo set its 2023 organic sales growth to 8.8%, compared to estimates of 8.3%. Earnings for the year are expected to rise 16%.
Quaker Oats Expands Recall of Granola Bars and Cereals for Salmonella Risk
The Quaker Oats Company has added two dozen additional types of granola bars, cereals and snack foods to a December recall over possible salmonella contamination.
The company, which is owned by PepsiCo., announced the additional recall in the U.S. and Canada on Thursday.
The expanded recall includes Quaker Chewy Granola Bars and Cereals, Cap’n Crunch Bars and select cereals, Gamesa Marias Cereal, Gatorade Peanut Butter Chocolate Protein Bars, Munchies Munch Mix and snack boxes that contain those products.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has received at least 24 reports of adverse events related to the products initially recalled, but no illnesses have been confirmed to be linked to the foods, an agency spokesperson said Friday. Adverse events can include medical problems, but also complaints about the off taste or color of a product, defective packaging or other non-medical issues, the official said. FDA will continue to investigate the reports.
French Farmers Dump Manure, Rotting Produce in Central Toulouse in Protest Over Agricultural Policies
Angry French farmers dumped piles of manure in front of city buildings in the southwest city of Toulouse Tuesday, a pungent protest against the government’s agricultural policy which they say is leaving them to face increased hardships. Nearly 400 tractors and 1,000 farmers from across southwest France converged on the city after rallying before dawn at meeting points across the region.
They headed for Toulouse in the early morning light, honking horns and pulling trailer loads of hay and manure as they moved in on the ancient city center, blocking entire lanes on some roads and causing massive traffic jams.
When the tractors reached the regional authority building, they tipped dozens of trailer loads of rotting fruit, hay, and manure right in front of it.
The protesters say increased taxes and social charges are causing hardship for farmers across the region. The tax hikes and other fees come on top of increased costs for fuel and animal feed, and a general rise in the cost of living across the country. Elsewhere in the region, farmers targeted large suburban supermarkets, dumping manure in their parking lots. The farmers say many big supermarket chains refuse to pay fair prices for their produce.
The Hot Meal for 2024? Breakfast
Cereal is (largely) out, but hot honey sandwiches, cinnamon roll pancakes and wonuts — a waffle/doughnut hybrid — are in as more chefs try to lure us out for breakfast.
Why it matters: Fine dining restaurants, fast-food outlets and supermarkets are doubling down on breakfast and brunch in 2024, convinced they can squeeze more revenue out of society’s most-skipped meal.
Driving the news: Our post-pandemic dining habits have us eating meals earlier, relying more heavily on ready-to-eat snacks, trying to spend less money on meals, and seeking out less-processed foods — all trends that breakfast purveyors are trying to capitalize on.
Let’s talk cereal: We’re eschewing it in favor of protein-laden portables like bars, shakes and frozen burritos, dampening the profits of Kellogg’s, General Mills and Post Holdings, the Wall Street Journal reports.
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