New dietary guidance from the Heart and Stroke Foundation warns against “ultra-processed foods”, those that are “nutritionally unbalanced foods high in sugar, fat and salt manufactured in a way to promote over-consumption and are associated with weight gain and high blood pressure”. They include “soft drinks, packaged fruit juices, cookies, ice cream, salty snacks, ready meals and bottled sauces”.
With money tight and limited access to food storage and cooking facilities on campus, I have definitely been eating too much of this sort of stuff.
The machinations of the food and flavour industries are fairly disturbing:
- 6 Ways the Food Industry Tricks You Into Eating Garbage
- Mark Schatzker: Our flavourless food leads to unhealthy cravings
What’s in “natural beef flavor”?
What Exactly Is ‘Natural Beef Flavor’?
According to Reineccius, “the flavor in beef is created during the cooking process. Food scientists identified the amino acids found in beef, added some very common sugars — starch hydrolysate — put it in a pot, added some citric acid to drop the pH, controlled moisture content, and heated it to the same temperature as meat. Then…*poof* we have meat flavor.” As a result, that “natural beef flavor” may actually be vegetarian. Once a flavor is broken down into its basic chemical components, scientists can reconstruct it and add one food’s flavor to another, creating that umami-like, “meaty” taste without the beef.
Flavor Science: What’s Really in a Pumpkin Spice Latte