Because They CAN - Episode 5, How do we stop them?

(Episode 4)  (Episode 3)   (Episode 2)  (Episode 1)

Ouch!

I wish that I could definitively state here and now that it is possible to stop greed, avarice, dishonesty and all the other sins that drive the need and desire for money fame and glory that causes big businesses to make the products for human consumption and include any of the 700 chemicals on the FDA GRAS list that shouldn't be there because they are KNOWN to be Class II Carcinogens.   But I can't.  The fact is that big businesses do in fact use those chemicals to make their products faster, cheaper, more appealing, to have longer shelf lives, to mask the taste of OTHER chemicals, and to make the products addictive.  And they use those chemicals that are chronic toxins because they KNOW that all their competitors use them and that pretty much makes them immune from any lawsuit.  Because they ALL use them. 

Well, almost all of them do.  There is a trend coming.  Fair trade products like coffee are actually growing and performing well.  Organic companies are growing, and the list of products that are "Certified" organic is getting larger every day.  These are some of the companies out there that have taken a stand, and refuse to put the toxins into their products that the BIG agribusiness companies do. 

Equal Exchange
Endangered Species Chocolate
Peaceworks
Nature's Path and Envirokidz
Organic Valley
Annie's
New England Naturals

Perhaps if all of us spend a little more money on some of the products we buy and purchase stuff from these guys, then perhaps all that other crap will just sit on the shelves and have to be tossed.  Wouldn't that be a kick in the pants to big business. 

The small list above certainly isn't all the companies out there that have taken the stand to produce nutritionally sound foods, there are others out there as well.  Along with small farmers and organic growers and producers all across the country that are growing natural foods and selling locally.  What can we do?  Well we can stop spending our food dollars on junk foods and crappy convenience items that are packed with dangerous chemicals that are known to have long term toxic effects on our bodies.  The reason those big businesses make those foods, is because people BUY them.  And the reason that they add toxic chemical additives to those foods is, again, because they can.  If people looked at the ingredients, and when they see chemicals that they cannot pronounce on the list, they should then put it back on the shelf.  Or as I have done and gotten kicked out of Safeway for, smashed them.  If everyone did this, then maybe big business would get the idea that they should change the way they make food.  Other companies make real food. All of them can do the same, there just has to be an incentive for them to do so.  And by incentive, I mean that real food manufacturers sell more product than they do.

Don't be fooled.  Big businesses are already seeing the writing on the walls and attempting to fool consumers by putting things on their packaging to mislead us.  The big one is the word Natural.  There are no FDA rules applying to the wording on labels regarding "Natural".  NONE!  Bread bakers by far are the worst offenders here, with most of them describing their crap as Natural or LOADED with ALL Natural Goodness and similar lines attempting to keep you from READING THE INGREDIENT LIST!  Bread should contain water, whole wheat flour, yeast, salt, vitamin C, milk or any milk product or milk solids and a fat such as butter, or a good oil like olive, sunflower, safflower or coconut.  NOTHING ELSE!    (Episode 1) Is about Bread.  In it I list some of the more common toxins added to bread.  All of them are cumulative and the bad part is that they are being added to most every processed food now.  With few companies being the exception.  The worst part is that many of the breads available from local bakeries, and from those at farmers markets, are made the same way with many of the same chemical compounds in them.  For the most part, ignorance is the reason.  Most people just have no idea.  They buy "Yeast Nutrients" and "Dough Enhancers" and other additives because they are available, and do in fact make a more APPEALING product.  Lighter, fluffier, airier, more toxic, more everything bad. 

Again, it is up to us as consumers to ask questions, tell bakers, supermarket produce managers and market managers that you are only interested in purchasing wholesome foods for yourself and your family that are free of toxic additives and free from untested Genetically Modified foods.  Be nice about it, don't be like me and raise a stink and get kicked out and banned from Safeways because the manager wouldn't answer the questions about whether or not Safeway would ever carry certified Non-GMO foods after donating three quarters of a million dollars to defeat prop 37 in California.  And why were they hiding it if GMO's really were healthy.  That was just me, and I was upset that the vote did not go the way I had hoped.  Sigh.  Let's hope the rest of the world gets the idea and someday I can write "Episode 6, They could, but now no one wants it!"