Why are they lying about food ?

[Yan007]

This was...eye opening. How do people survive over there? With the apparent complete lack of sanitation over there, the disease rate must be astronomical! How do they prevent horrific plagues?

They don't prevent anything. They just got lucky. This year, there has been a big news about 6,000+ slaughtered pigs thrown into a single river.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/13/dead-pigs-in-chinas-shanghai-river_n_2867063.html

That's just one example.

 

[-Dragmire-]

I used to buy my honey from a beekeeper!
In Canada we get a lot of fake maple syrup.

I think I've actually grown a taste for the fake stuff. I had the fresh maple syrup on ice from one of the maple farms(it was called something else but the name escapes me) and it was far less than appealing. Maybe I had a bad batch, I only went once and that was quite a while ago.

 

[lacktheknack]

I learned to read ingredient lists a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time ago.

My favorite story was "All Beef Hot Dogs". The hot dogs were mostly pork, but the COMPANY was named "All Beef". Authorities were not amused.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

One common lie when buying chinese food for those who like "crispy seaweed". It's rarely, if ever, seaweed but is generally an ordinary green vegetable, usually cabbage though sometimes lettuce.

I've never come across mislabelled honey before. I love dark honeys and our supermarkets usually offer a range. It's lovely with toast or instead of sugar in a hot drink.

 

[lacktheknack]

Diet soda's are, for all dietary purposes, identical to water. The only group that would experience ill effects from drinking them would be people with an extremely rare condition that causes one of the amino acid breakdown products of aspartame to be poisonous, a condition screened at birth in 1st world countries and which prevents you from eating tons of stuff, not just aspartame. Non-dietary reasons to not consume it would be the acidity and it's effect on your teeth.

Could you expand on this a bit? When I started to diet I cut out all sodas for a year and noticed a huge decline in overall bloated look. I don't know what is is about sodas but when I cut them out for awhile I tend to slim down a bit without actually losing weight.

He's not accounting for the psychological aspect.

Your body HATES being tricked, and consuming sweet calorie-free items makes it very sad that all those sugar calories entered a black hole somewhere. I don't remember which study, but there was one where people who drank diet pop were more likely to binge-eat.

EDIT: Re-read your post, I misunderstood it. Sorry.

I do know that drinking water de-bloats you more than other liquids, so it's probably not true that diet soda is "like water". If nothing else, your kidneys and liver have to deal with the weird things in it.

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

Because everyone would be too disgusted to buy it.

 

[-Dragmire-]

Monosodium Glutamate fears are basically the Fan Death of the western world. Don't even bother bringing this up as a health hazard, otherwise I will have to explain even more chemistry to demonstrate that it isn't, and its far too hot here for me to want to do that.

Sorry to bring this up after your request but the only reason my family tries to avoid msg is that it gives us bad trapped gas. I get it too but not nearly as bad as others in my family. Do people fear it on a deeper level than this?

 

[Rednog]

At the end of the day, not putting these chemicals into your body can only be a good thing. They may be harmless, but then again, they may not be. Only time will tell. (See also vaccination, global warming, etc...) You can live without these chemicals. Trust me. I do it every day.

Here's a simple way to think about it:
If it grew in nature, then eat it. If it grew in a lab, then dont eat it.

Pst, you might want to look up the definition of chemical or just brush up on basic science.
Without chemicals you'd be dead, water is a chemical, your body not only needs the intake of several chemical compounds but it also produces a variety of chemical compounds called amino acids that are essential for life.

But what do I know, I probably should follow your simple advice of "If it grew in nature, then eat it. If it grew in a lab, then dont eat it". Now excuse me while I throw away that vile insulin that was made in a lab and eat a delicious salad of apple seeds, nightshade, rosary pea, and oleander. Yum.

 

[direkiller]

Ice cream which usually has lots of other ingredients like emulsifiers.

You know what else uses an emulsifier, your blood.

an emulsifier is just something that suspends a liquid in another liquid that would normally separate, something having one dose not necessarily make it dangerous to eat.

In the case of ice cream you kinda need it else you would just end up with a block of ice with cream on the top, which would not be very tasty

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

Huh? As a brit I've never come across fake honey, but then my parents are the kind of people to make sure it was proper honey. Still, I guess it's cheaper to just chuck a load of glucose syrup and colouring together and call it honey than make actual honey (for shame, proper honey is awesome). Perhaps my opinion of America may be a bit low when it comes to food, I wouldn't be surprised if they had a lot of fake honey, this is the country that gave us American cheese and cheese in a spray can after all.

 

[Gavmando]

At the end of the day, not putting these chemicals into your body can only be a good thing. They may be harmless, but then again, they may not be. Only time will tell. (See also vaccination, global warming, etc...) You can live without these chemicals. Trust me. I do it every day.

Here's a simple way to think about it:
If it grew in nature, then eat it. If it grew in a lab, then dont eat it.

Pst, you might want to look up the definition of chemical or just brush up on basic science.
Without chemicals you'd be dead, water is a chemical, your body not only needs the intake of several chemical compounds but it also produces a variety of chemical compounds called amino acids that are essential for life.

But what do I know, I probably should follow your simple advice of "If it grew in nature, then eat it. If it grew in a lab, then dont eat it". Now excuse me while I throw away that vile insulin that was made in a lab and eat a delicious salad of apple seeds, nightshade, rosary pea, and oleander. Yum.

Sigh. Looks like i'll have to explain it again. But this time i'll make it simpler for you.

The chemicals I was refering to are things like artificial flavour enhancers, colours and stuff like that. They add no nutritional value to the food, they are simply there to make them more appealing and therefor to get you to buy more of them. Your body doesnt need them.

As for insulin, it sucks that your body needs that artificially. Is it type 1 or type 2? Do you eat your insulin or do you inject it? Do you consider it a food or a medication?

Of course there are things in nature that are bad for us, but we generally dont eat them. When you pop down to the grocers, you dont usually pick up a bunch of nightshade to go with your apples. A bit of common sense does apply.

 

[acturisme]

Most American honey is not pure honey. If you want pure honey here you'll have to go to a local bee keeper and pay out the nose.

 

[likalaruku]

If an American company can lie about food, it will. Honey, maple syrup, & olive oil are the most likely to be faux.

Olive oil: Sold in a clear &/or plastic bottle? Costs less than $8 a bottle? Then it's not 100% olive. Spain & Italy imports might also be fake, but Greek doesn't have mafia involvement. There's also the Certified Authentic seal. $8-$15 depending on brand.

Honey: Avoid Clover honey. Go with raw honey, especially the stuff at Trader Joe's, Home Goods, the farmers' market, or local outdoor festivals selling food & crafts. BeeKing's wildflower honey is my favorite sofar. A jar will set you back $6-$15, depending on the size.

Maple: I don't know what to look for in this one because I actually prefer the taste of the cheap maple flavored corn syrup. The real stuff will cost you at least $10, even in Canada.

I've read something about how most Greek yoghurt in stores aren't actually strained yoghurt; they just add in milk protein & thickening agents.

Kona blends barely have any Kona in them; I buy 100% Kona...pretty pricey but tastes so good. About $20 a bag.

V8 still likes to call their drinks "juice" even though there's only 10% juice in them.

Real wasabi is pricey. Most of the wasabi sold in America is horseradish with food coloring.

Pet food: Get the grain free stuff, avoid corn like the plague. $1.50 for a small can, $15-30 for a bag, depending on size.

 

[lunavixen]

snip

There are many species of bee and different ones produce different honey, some is thinner than others, some varieties are much sweeter, it depends on the breed of bee and the pollens they collect, so you were most likely eating genuine honey, just a different type, the most common honey sold in retail markets is 'Yellow box', as's thick and sweet, but not sickly sweet.

 

[Callate]

At the risk of being "that guy"- what defines yogurt is simply being milk fermented by certain bacteria. The presence of gelatin as a thickener is something America seems to have decided is a good thing, and others may find it weird, which is certainly their right- but its presence doesn't disqualify it from being yogurt.

I agree with the overall sentiment, though. It's extremely frustrating to me when alleged public servants quickly agree with major food distributors that there's information the public simply "doesn't need to know" about the food they're consuming. It's true that there may be areas where bad information will lead to an unfair stigmatization of certain products, but the bottom line is that there's almost nothing more personal than the food we eat every day, and we ought to have the right to make informed personal choices, even if those who would sell us those foods may not like those choices.

 

[RJ Dalton]

The reason they lie is obvious: it's cheaper to use the substitutes, but people won't buy substitutes, so they find ways to avoid telling you what's really in it.

 

[Platypus540]

In the US just about everything is labeled as 'real" or "fake" (not those words, but it's easy to read between the lines), so you usually have a choice, unless the stores in your area just don't stock one or the other.

As far as why, simple: the artificial stuff is nearly always cheaper and more efficient for mass production.

 

[Platypus540]

Huh? As a brit I've never come across fake honey, but then my parents are the kind of people to make sure it was proper honey. Still, I guess it's cheaper to just chuck a load of glucose syrup and colouring together and call it honey than make actual honey (for shame, proper honey is awesome). Perhaps my opinion of America may be a bit low when it comes to food, I wouldn't be surprised if they had a lot of fake honey, this is the country that gave us American cheese and cheese in a spray can after all.

Haha, as an American I've never seen fake honey either. We do have a lot of fake maple syrup though.

 

[Saladfork]

I'm sure Chinese readers will be able to tell everyone more about this, especially if they are honest, but here are a few things you should be aware of before coming to China for vacation or work. This will sound racist, I know, but it is how life is here. It is getting better, but we're not there yet.:

1- Sanitary: Chinese people are generally not clean. Or rather, not clean in the sense most other cultures would agree with. In China, if your hands are not visibly soiled, then they are clean. You go to the bathroom, wipe your ass: hands still white? Clean! The person cooking your food may wash his hands only once a day, after work. This is normal everywhere, including in hospitals regardless of who you are (patient, doctor and so on). They say you are what you eat, but here you are also what is on your chef's hands (and bottom). Also, there is no shame in defecating in public, even between rows of fresh food at a supermarket. Keep this in mind. It is very common for restaurants and even hospitals to NOT have any soap. This also explains why you will see people defecate in public or with the bathroom door open: They think that if they don't touch the door or don't go to the bathroom then it is cleaner for them and therefore they won't get sick or need to wash their hands. Yes.

2- Fake food: You may think some food may be "fake" in the West. I agree. I love real food. Especially now. Imagine going into a supermarket and NEVER knowing if what you buy is real. The ingredients list may be fake, the ingredients themselves may be hazardous to your health, the food may be spoiled and you can forget about nutritional information: If it is present on the package at all, then it is most probably fake too.

I even had "fake" oranges once. The oranges themselves were real. The problem was as follows: The oranges had been painted and coated with some kind of wax to look fresh and colorful. Inside, they were old and rotting. Sometimes you'll buy walnut only to realize later that the seller already took the meat inside and replaced it with stones and glued the nut back together to make more money.

3- My stomach is upset: Almost everyone who comes here will experience a phase after a couple months during which you feel like you are dying. It's like having the worst case of diarrhea mixed with a complete loss of energy and will to live. You realize that the food you eat is poisonous and you will have to adapt, leave or die. Most of my coworkers (Chinese people) will have upset stomachs at least once every 2 months and get real bad food poisoning at least twice a year. The same happens to me. Here, it is normal and people don't think an upset stomach or food poisoning is serious: it just happens. They will often just shrug it off and say "today's food was bad, maybe tomorrow's will be better." They are often in awe when I tell them I suffered from food poisoning only once in my life before coming to China and having an upset stomach is not that common too.

4- Water: When travelling, it is said you shouldn't drink the local water. In China, nobody drinks the local water - not even the locals. Our water often has "particles" so you have to boil it for 15 minutes or use a water fountain.

5- Cold kills EVERYTHING: Remember what I said about the water? Here, ice cream is pretty popular and here is how it's made: powdered milk, another powder and TAP WATER because: the machine will make the ice cream cold and cold kills bacteria! (It does not). Eating ice cream from street vendors and restaurants will give you a very bad case of diarrhea for this very reason. Also, this is why you will see Chinese people only use cold water to wash their hands: you think they are lazy - they seriously believe the cold water killed the germs and bacteria.

6- Quality control: Forget what you know about quality control and government regulations. Any rule can be broken and any regulator can be bought. My friend who owns his restaurant has a "perfect" score for his restaurant - he just paid for it.

If you got any question about food here or otherwise, reply here or send me a pm. I'll be glad to tell more.

So basically, if I ever find myself in China for some reason, just don't eat anything. Got it.

Here in Canada I think out food regulations are pretty good for the most part. We do get some fake stuff but it's actually labelled as fake (imitation, artificial, etc) and it still has to go by the CFA.

Much as I love maple syrup, it costs an arm and a leg. Sometimes I'd rather just get a similar taste without getting a second mortgage.

 

[direkiller]

Ice cream which usually has lots of other ingredients like emulsifiers.

You know what else uses an emulsifier, your blood.

an emulsifier is just something that suspends a liquid in another liquid that would normally separate, something having one dose not necessarily make it dangerous to eat.

In the case of ice cream you kinda need it else you would just end up with a block of ice with cream on the top, which would not be very tasty

Ice cream, the clue is in the name and the stuff you buy in store has all sorts of crap in it. Whether it's dangerous or not is another point.

Wine is another product where you don't know exactly what else is in it.
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/08/st_whatsinside_redwine/

yes but getting worked up over Ice cream having an emulsifier is like getting worked up over beer having alcohol in it. It's completely normal for it to be there.
You seeming scared yourself over a word.

as for your link, no most people know that stuffs in there, they would be quite angry if the first 3 were not in there, because at that point it's just bad grape juice.