I'm not buying that pile of hooey

I'm not buying that pile of hooey.

  

Sometimes we see an ingredient listed on the food package and think, "Oh, that's safe, I know that it is food based."

Citric acid. Is this one of those "safe" ingredients or are we buying a pile of hooey?

Because citric acid occurs naturally in citrus fruits and other fruits including oranges, lemons, limes, pineapple and grapefruit, we might think citric acid is always safe to consume.

Gentle reader, Big Food is not squeezing lemons into their factory food labeled with "citric acid."

At best, this white powder is a product of food science. Because it is too expensive to extract citric acid from citrus fruit, food science has found cheap ways to make citric acid, and it is damaging our health.

 

Pfizer and Citrique Belge are two companies that began manufacturing citric acid on a large scale. Now we see manufacturers like Cargill, Archer Daniels, and Jiali-bio, China's largest manufacturer of MSG and citric acid.

 

Citric acid is produced using a mold, Aspergillus niger. 
The mold is grown in the presence of a carbohydrate like corn or sugar beets to produce citric acid. 

Now, we are seeing the use of genetically modified Aspergillus niger employed to obtain higher yields. Besides the genetically modified mold being used, the carbohydrate "food" that the mold metabolizes is often genetically modified corn.

You means its not lemons?

This is Aspergillus niger growing on an onion.
Big Food takes this mold and genetically modifies it and then grows it on genetically modified corn.
Most citric acid is produced from corn in this manner. 

Manufacturers do not always take out the protein which can be hydrolyzed and create MSG, a known neuro-toxin that kills brain cells.

Not Lemons.
You are probably getting two sources of genetically modified foods introduced that possibly create MSG in the process. 

This can't be good and it is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Big Food using hidden GMO sources to produce food.

 

Sometimes citric acid can be the cause of food intolerance symptoms like 

• stomach pain and cramping, 
• diarrhea, 
• vomiting,
• blotchy skin, and 
• dark circles under the eyes.   

Think about this: New mamas are feeding their babies jarred baby food for the first time and watching for reactions. If baby reacts to the jarred fruit mama assumes that the baby is reacting to the fruit, when in reality it might be the GMO-MSG producing citric acid that has been added.

Poor baby! Many parents are waking up to the fact that junk ingredients are put into baby foods and they are making their own baby food using organic produce, egg yolk, grass-fed liver and other nutrient dense foods. 

Citric acid and other food additives manufactured with genetically modified microorganisms do not have to be labeled if the manufacture claims that  the  additive has been purified and contains no microorganisms. 

I'm not buying that pile of hooey.

Annie Berical, certification specialist at Organic Crop Improvement Association says, 
"It's really tough for processors to locate a citric acid produced on a non- GMO substrate." 

 “The more you dig, the more you realize that there are so many layers where GMOs might have been used."

 

Here is a list of common foods containing citric acid (probably made from GMO mold and/or GMO carbohydrate like corn).

• Laxatives
• Medicine, vitamins
• Stock cubes and concentrates like chicken broth and bouillon
• Soft drinks, especially fruit-flavored beverages and lemonade
• Jam, jelly, and fruit preserves.

 

• Yogurt
• Desserts

 

• Candy - It is the white powder dusted on sour hard candy to make it more sour.

• Baby food

 

• Sherbet, some ice cream, especially cheaper brands using vegetable oils. The citric acid is used so that the cheap fats appear emulsified like real ice cream made with milk and cream.

• Processed and packaged foods
• Canned tomatoes
• Tomato based products

• Crackers
• Mayonnaise
• Alcohol
• Cheese
• Spreads
• Cough Medicine  (Citric acid, red no. 40, flavor, glycerin, high fructose corn syrup, saccharin sodium, sodium benzoate, sodium chloride, sodium citrate)

 

• Frozen fish
• Frozen potatoes

• Frozen waffles
• Frozen pizza

• Soups
• Canned fruits and vegetables

Jessica Walden, technical specialist at Quality Assurance is concerned that the consumer will have no idea of the source of citric acid,

"The more you dig, the more you realize that there are so many layers where GMOs might have been used." 

Shockingly, MOST packaged foods contain genetically modified soy and/or corn in some form, as soy oil, corn oil, corn meal, corn syrup, dextrose, maltodextrin, fructose, soy flour, soy protein, soy lecithin, textured vegetable protein, citric acid, and lactic acid.

Tips for avoiding GMO foods

     1. Eat real food and avoid processed foods.

     2. Buy organically raised foods.

     3. Avoid the four ingredients that are usually genetically modified: corn, soybeans, canola, cottonseed. Also avoid sugar made from sugar beets.

• Corn (fructose, glucose, dextrose, modified food starch)
• Soy (lecithin, soybean oil, vegetable protein, vegetable oil, isoflavone)
• Canola oil or rapeseed oil
• Cottonseed oil
• Sugar (any sugar not listed specifically from sugar cane)

   4. Read ingredient labels on all packaged food. 

• If you don't recognize the item as a real food, put it back.

Eat real food, as close to the way it was created as possible.

Avoid factory food containing chemicals, dyes, artificial sweeteners and genetically modified ingredients.

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