Here We Go Again

Struggles over the content of our food often come down to labeling. If we try to conclusively determine if something is safe or not, critics and the food-chemical industry complex can fling their respective experts at each other forever. The industry loves this, since it forces critics to play on the industry's terms, and like a bad marriage, the arguing drags on while nothing changes. Furthermore, the food industry has vastly more resources to prolong the fight, and a seemingly endless supply of bought-and-paid-for experts.

Fifteen years ago when I was in the middle of the genetically engineered food struggle, I quickly learned the value of not playing on someone else's field. Instead, the GE food movement put  energy into a strategy built on "right to know" - the labeling of food content.

It's not easy for the food industry to defend preventing its customers from knowing what they're eating. When I was on the speaking circuit, debating people from the industry, they would complain that there wasn't enough room on the labels to tell customers what was in the package. I amassed a hilarious collection of food labels with all kinds of preposterous claims - and lots of room. It was easy to pass the labels around or show slides and let the food industry debunk itself.

The Sheepscot Cemetery (Photo By Jan)

Now we have Neotame, a Monsanto-invented product sold by Nutrasweet. Related to aspartame, the chemical appears to be a neuro-exciter like some other artificial sweeteners. It's been on the market for a decade, but is little known. The FDA has ruled that it can be included in food, even organic food, without its presence being revealed on the label.

Some people are sensitive to artificial sweeteners. Others don't want to consume this chemical or feed it to their kids on precautionary grounds. Incredibly, neotame can be in food bought at your local health food store or coop, and you'd never know.

What food you put into your body is a personal and even intimate choice. But you're prevented from making the choice with a substance like neotame. This seems indefensible.

I think it's possible to drive yourself nuts trying to live a "perfect" life, one that's totally consonant with your personal values. I even think it's a health problem to live with stress and guilt that result when you grab that burger on the run or don't recycle one item. When we set the bar too high, we run the risk of just giving up. In other words, doing as best as you can is a lot better than doing nothing.

Here are my ideas about dealing with the problem of unsafe or unlabeled food:

1. To the extent that is possible in your own life, adopt a precautionary stance. That is, I treat food additives as guilty until proved innocent. The worst that will happen is I'll have avoided a benign substance. That seems preferable to ingesting something that harms me.

2. To the extent that you possibly can, avoid highly processed food. Many possibly harmful substances are part of turning fresh food into something that is more easily marketed by changing its shelf life, appearance, or convenience of pre-mixed ingredients. In general, I try to direct myself towards single ingredient foods, bulk foods, and fresh foods.

3. In every venue possible, advocate for consumer choice in what we eat. You can argue the science around bovine growth hormone, aspartame and its cousin neotame, or engineered crops until the cows come home. But most people, including politicians, will have difficulty defending ignorance and opposing free choice.

4. Take it easy, cut yourself some slack. Eating a perfectly healthy diet is very difficult for most people; our access to food resources is highly mediated. Do the best you can, and set goals that are reasonable and achievable. Don't give up. Just don't give up.