Unidentified Food Additives

Some countries require food manufacturers by law to list the ingredients in their products, however, there is some slack which companies can abuse. For example, if a product contains less than a certain percentage of an ingredient, they don't have to list it, or they can use an alternative name instead.

In certain cases, the additives are ambiguous and might lead the consumer to think that they are "naturally occurring" when in fact they are processed often in many phases that May Be disturbing.

List of UFAs:

  • Natural Flavour(s) - Contained in many food products including: chocolate, snacks, chewing gum
  • Artificial Flavour(s) - Contained in many food products including: Pop drinks, milk beverages, chewing gum, instant rice
  • Colour - Most pop drinks, chocolate candy bars, noodles, some cheeses, crackers, etc.
  • Carrageenan - Usually added as an emulsifier and food preservatives, e.g. in chocolate milk, processed meats, cheese, etc... Derived from MSG.
  • Hydrolised Soy Protein - (MSG) added to: processed meats, certain cheeses and tuna cans, instant rice, instant noodles, etc...
  • Hydrolised Wheat Protein - (MSG) see above. Also in: canned soups, canned vegetables, canned meats, sausage, hot dogs
  • Hydrolised Corn Protein - (MSG) see above. Also in: biscuits, jarred peanuts, seasoned chips and crisps
  • Hydrolised Plant Protein - (MSG) see above. Also in: certain vegan food products, many shelved non-perishable food items
  • Autolysed Yeast Extract - (MSG) see above.
  • Autolysed Yeast
  • Mechanically Separated Chicken - Usually in hot dogs or weiners, usually in combination with M.S. Pork/Beef
  • Mechanically Separated Pork
  • Mechanically Separated Beef
  • Flavour - Hard to avoid in many food products. Usually deceives the person into thinking it is part of another ingredient.
  • Seasoning - Sometimes chemical-free, but often contains MSG
  • Aspartame - Added as a sweetener, now unnecessarily to many food products that even contain sugar. E.g. gum, carbonated drinks
  • Calcium Disodium EDTA - Added to canned foods and food products. Very hard to find mayonnaise without C.D.EDTA (except in organic sections of grocery stores.)

Disambiguation of Food Additives:

Natural and Artificial flavours usually contain certain chemicals in minute amounts that are below the threshold for explicit listing. For example, Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) is often disguised as "Natural Flavour" or "Artificial Flavour". MSG is more commonly referred to as the process instead of an ingredient (a "hydrolised" or "autolysed" plant protein) which deceives the consumer into thinking it is a plant product.

Mechanically separated meats are also a misnomer (as it gives you the name of the process rather than the ingredients) and usually contains many ingredients that if presented to the consumer would discourage them from buying the product (e.g. Animal bones, nerves, internal organs, animal by-products, etc...)

The terms "Seasoning" and "Flavour" are also ambiguous and usually contain in small amounts one or more chemicals that may be otherwise discouraging (e.g. MSG, complex chemical molecules, etc...)

Aspartame, although now required on food labels along with a warning "Aspartame contains phenylalanine" may cause serious brain damage to people with phenylketonuria (PKU), and is GeneRally considered very toxic in high doses.