Letter of the Day | What are we eating?
Published:Monday | November 4, 2024 | 12:06 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
I am of the opinion that the majority of Jamaicans have absolutely no idea what they are consuming when they purchase processed or packaged food and beverages.
In this ever-changing landscape, convenience has now become the new catch phrase. Shopping carts are being filled to the brim with processed or packaged food, with little to no room for whole and fresh foods. With that being said, and with the prevalence of the Internet, smartphones and tablets, it would seem as if no one even cares to research the ingredients on these packages. For instance, breads, buns and most baked goods contain so many additives and fillers that these items should be sold as furniture and not food. Food goes bad within a day or two; if it lasts any longer, it should never be consumed. Preservatives, additives, artificial colours and flavours make the products look presentable, but they are absolutely terrible for our bodies.
A study published a few weeks ago revealed that tartrazine, which is found in nearly every yellow food, makes the bellies of mice transparent. That doesn’t seem like something anyone should be eating. PEG, otherwise called polyethylene glycol, is, I believe, is the main ingredient in antifreeze, but is added in most sugary cereals. You can’t get rid of caustic soda in beer, as the bottles are sterilised with it. The regular flour has either benzoyl peroxide, chlorine dioxide, calcium peroxide, to name a few, and may even contain traces of glyphosate, a widely used herbicide that can kill certain weeds and grasses. I wonder if you see where I am going with this? It is the things we eat that are making us sick. If we are made aware of the ingredients in our food and the potential harm they may cause from long-term exposure, we will make better choices. We all will have to die, but please, let us choose our own poison. Stop hiding it in our foods. The companies making and selling this kind of junk are just as heartless as the persons who will rob and maybe kill you. Putting poison in our food is still murder.
CASBURB TOMLIN