February 28th Show

Proudly Sponsored by Woodward, Pires & Lombardo

and
The Golisano Children's Museum of Naples

 

On today's show:

Arsenic in Wine and elsewhere

 

Food Additives & Product Liability

 

Guest, Chris Lombardo, family law attorney from 

Woodward, Pires & Lombardo

on Co-Parenting over food and

the affects of conflict on the children

Processed food swept through the Nation after WWII.  Creating shelf stable food requires an enourmous amount of sugar, fat, salt, preservatives and innumerable fillers like starches and gums, to make it palateable... because mostly, it's not food.

 

Take a look at one of Amercia's most trust food items, Kraft Singles.  They will never rot, when they dryout they effectively become plexi-glass and they aren't actually cheese.  It's so far from cheese that they were required to relabel it as "processed cheese product"

 

This and several other items were discussed on the show... take a listen!  If you don't have time, avoid anything that has a commercial.

 

 

Q. Many people are put at ease when government agencies and the food industry state that controversial substances are “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS). Why is this not as comforting as it sounds?

 

A. The GRAS process, as it’s known, is one of self-regulation. If a food-ingredient company wants to introduce a new additive, they — not the FDA — hire some experts or a consulting firm to make the determination about whether this new ingredient is safe. Sometimes you’ll hear that company X has been awarded “GRAS status” for its new ingredient, but the FDA doesn’t award anything. The agency merely has the option to review what companies tell them.

 

Except when they don’t. In a glaring regulatory loophole that dates back to 1958, the GRAS system also happens to be voluntary. It’s perfectly legal for companies to keep the FDA in the dark about new additives, and consequently there are some 1,000 ingredients the FDA has no knowledge of whatsoever, according to an estimate done by the Pew Research Center.

 

So although the FDA seeks to reassure us they are keeping a close watch over our food, the job of rigorously regulating thousands of food additives is simply too big for an underfunded agency. Brominated vegetable oil, for instance, the subject of a well-circulated petition by a 15-year-old in Alabama, was flagged for further study in the ’70s, testing that was never done. And BHA, a “probable carcinogen” according to the Department of Health and Human Services, is still allowed in food.

Arsenic, Arsenic, Everywhere

Arsenic has been called out in the media over the last several years for being found in significant levels in common food items such as chicken (because it's purposely fed to them as part of their fed) and apple juice (from pesticides, fertilizers and contaminated soil). Most recently wine has been the subject, specifically lower price-point California whites and rosés. Associated articles and list of named wines are linked in the buttons --->

Food Additives & Product Liability

Special Guest, Chris Lombardo, family law attorney from Woodward, Pires & Lombardo.

Chris Lombardo joined in on the food conversation helping us understand how best to handle food dynamics between separate inconsistant households.  The conversation expanded to included a plethora of topic areas from religion to education and back to the most simple interaction found in conversation.  For more information or if you're interested in getting support regarding any of the topic areas discussed, please reach out to Chris through the links below or call 239-649-6555.