In the United States, the choices for meals and snacks are plenty. Just push a button, twist a top or add hot water: they’re fast, cheap and easy. A recent survey of roughly 1,500 consumers may shed some light. The study was done by Label Insight, a digital company that uses big data and advocates for better food label transparency.
The study found many consumers are confused about the very elements that make up the food products they buy and eat. In a month’s time, 8 out of 10 Americans will eat or drink something made or processed with an ingredient they know absolutely nothing about. With the help of Medical Doctor and Professor John Swartzberg of UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, KPIX 5 assembled a smorgasbord of popular foods that all contain what some might consider a weird ingredient. We asked Juliet and her daughter Rosie to play along in our game of “What is it,
” The mom and daughter team was enthusiastic to see if they knew the ingredients. “Well, let’s start with the healthy stuff and then work our way down to dessert,” said Rosie. First up for scrutiny: a tub of shredded cheese. On the ingredient label, she found powdered cellulose and was puzzled about what it is and why it’s in shredded cheese. “Well, cellulose is a plant product and it’s made from a variety of plants, including — of course — wood,” said the doctor.
” exclaimed Juliet with surprise. Cellulose is added into shredded cheese to keep the cheese from clumping together. Dr. Swartzberg said it’s an ingredient that has no nutritional value, but adds weight to the product. “The more cellulose you put in — which is very cheap to make — the more money you make,” said the public health expert.
Next, we asked Juliet and Rosie to consider an array of frozen burritos, breads, pizza and some snacks that are made with or contain crusts or breads. Juliet picked up a frozen snack box and perused the label. “I’m curious what’s in there,” she said. All the examples contain an ingredient called L-cysteine.
Dr. Swartzberg explained L-cysteine is an amino acid, but not just any amino acid. This particular amino acid is made from human hair or duck feathers. “That’s gross,” sighed Juliet. L-cysteine is used as a dough conditioner to improve the texture of the product. It softens the bread’s texture. Sometimes it is not even listed as “L-cysteine” on labels.
It may simply show up as “dough conditioner” or “reaction flavor”. Next, we brought a bottle of salad dressing to the table. It was creamy Italian dressing. On the label, a potpourri of additives that make the dressing very thick, stable, and emulsified including xanthan gum, propylene glycol alginate and potassium sorbate, as well as calcium disodium EDTA. Xanthan gum is typically produced when a sugar is fermented by a bacteria.
Propylene glycol alginate is derived from kelp. Potassium sorbate and calcium disodium EDTA are both preservatives. In a single cup of noodles, we found at least six ingredients that we did not recognize: disodium guanylate, disodium inosinate, disodium succinate, polyglycerol esters of fatty acids, potassium carbonate and sodium carbonate. All are additives that perform a variety of tasks including flavor enhancement and emulsifiers. Disodium inosinate is used as a flavor enhancer and is generally produced from meat, including fish. What about polyglycerol esters of fatty acids,
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