What the FDA doesn’t know will shock you

I’m not sure if the FDA is more dangerous when it simply sits on its hands… or when it actually does something!

The agency is now hard at work coming up with ways to influence what you put in your shopping cart. Lots of plans are in the loop, but the best, according to head honcho and industry shill Scott Gottlieb, is for the FDA to come up with an icon or symbol so you’ll know at a glance what foods are really healthy.

Yikes! That’s like having a preschooler write your shopping list.

Remember, this is the very same agency that judged Frosted Flakes to be healthier than salmon and declared Pop-Tarts to be better choices than almonds!

While speaking at the big National Food Policy Conference last week, Gottlieb said that all of these new FDA strategies will help make Americans healthier.

And wait until you hear this: They’re so important, he said, that they will “dwarf” any single “medical innovation” that might be discovered. I guess the agency can’t decide which industry it intends to shower with perks right now – Big Food or Big Pharma!

But whatever the FDA has up its sleeve, we know from experience that it won’t benefit you and me… but rather loosen the reins even further on how Big Food can deceive us.

So, if you really want to serve healthy foods to your family, there’s no reason to wait for the FDA, because all the facts you need are already available. That is, if you know where to find them!

The fine print

Two years ago, the FDA got an ostrich-omelet amount of egg on its face after attacking Kind brand nut and grain bars for using the word “healthy” to describe its products.

It turns out that they’re over the “official” limit in saturated fats. But as the public (and the company!) quickly reminded the bureaucrats, nuts are loaded with good fats, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.

Instead of sheepishly dropping the matter, the FDA decided to make a full-blown bureaucratic affair out of it by saying that it now wants an official definition of “healthy.”

The agency even asked the public for help, with over 1,000 comments coming in. But the cat was out of the bag: our Food and Drug Administration has no idea whatsoever what’s healthy and what isn’t. Why, any mom or grandma could run rings around what this agency knows!

But its lack of common sense doesn’t stop there. Because there are a whole lot of other semantic shenanigans that it allows food manufacturers to get away with. For example:

• Antioxidants: These compounds are truly healthy, and you definitely want more of them in your diet. However, “antioxidants” is a broad term that the FDA allows to be slapped on drinks and tea mixes that provide just a smidgen of their benefits.
• Natural: This is one of the most widely misused and meaningless claims you can find on a food package. The agency was planning to come up with a definition for this term as well, but that’s apparently easier said than done! Right now, practically anything can be labeled as “natural,” including GMOs and foods loaded with MSG and even HFCS.
• Wholesome: Here’s yet another totally meaningless word when it comes to processed food — one the FDA hasn’t even attempted to define.

Look, it’s obvious that the FDA doesn’t know squat when it comes to foods that are really healthy, wholesome, and natural.

Why, it was only last year that this antiquated agency proposed allowing raw fruits and veggies that contained higher amounts of fat (such as avocados) to be called “heart-healthy,” something that’s been common knowledge for ages!

But that doesn’t mean that you can’t cut through all of the smoke and mirrors when food shopping.

All you have to do is turn a package around and locate the ingredient label – the tiny print found on the side or the back – and the one thing that Big Food wishes never existed.

That’s where you’ll be able see if an item contains MSG, HFCS, artery-clogging partially hydrogenated oils, artificial colors, and on and on and on. It’s your peephole into what that food is really all about, and it will let you decide whether it’s worthy of being allowed in your kitchen.

And whatever cutesy icon or symbol the FDA comes up with, you can be sure that it will be as valuable as a wooden nickel!

“FDA to consider what ‘healthy’ means and other claims food companies can make” Angelica LaVito, March 29, 2018, CNBC, cnbc.com