DailyDirt: Are You Sure You're Eating What You Think You're Eating?
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
It seems like every day there’s another report of problems with our food — E. Coli in beef and packaged salads, Salmonella in canteloupe, Listeria in packaged sliced apples, etc. Worries about bacterial contamination in food is pretty common, but it seems like we should also be worrying about whether the food we’re eating is really what we think it is. Recently, there was the scandal in the UK over beef products that contained horsemeat. But thanks to modern day technology, scientists are now able to test food products and determine whether they are indeed what they claim to be. Here are just a few examples.
- After that whole horsemeat scandal, Burger King has announced that it will be testing its burger patties for non-beef DNA, including horse, pork, and lamb. So far, it has been testing specifically for horse DNA and hasn’t found any in its beef, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s free of other kinds of animals… [url]
- The US FDA has officially adopted DNA barcoding to detect seafood mislabeling. Think you’re eating “white tuna” sushi? Maybe you’re actually eating “escolar” which has been banned in Japan since 1977 because the Japanese government is concerned about its “toxicity“. [url]
- A laser “isotope ratio-meter,” which was originally designed to study carbon isotope levels on Mars, is now being used to test the purity of honey. This kind of laser analysis can even match the honey to the flowers of a specific geographic region. Honey is expensive, so it’s often adulterated with cheaper ingredients, like sugar, malt sweeteners, corn or rice syrup, to name just a few honey substitutes. [url]
Filed Under: barcoding, beef, burgers, dna, food, horsemeat, isotope, laser, sushi
Companies: burger king
Comments on “DailyDirt: Are You Sure You're Eating What You Think You're Eating?”
Soilent Green is people!
DNA detection is too sensitive?
It only takes a little bit of DNA to freak people out. That’s probably why they don’t test for human DNA. Protein is protein…
Imagine how much insect DNA is in the food you eat.
Tuna caught near California still have traces of Fukushima radiation
Tell me again, why is there are agencies called the FDA, and USDA both run by a bunch of oath breaking foreign agenda scum who could care less about anyone’s health?
EAT UP!
Tuna caught near California still have traces of Fukushima radiation.
http://rt.com/usa/tuna-fukushima-radiation-238/
And you thought it was funny when I bought a Geiger Counter.
Re: Tuna caught near California still have traces of Fukushima radiation
OMG! You can’t say that around here. That’s racist, dontcha know.
Re: Tuna caught near California still have traces of Fukushima radiation
Are you suggesting the elimination of said governmental agencies or that they need to do their jobs in a more professional manner? I would agree with the latter, the former is crazy talk.
Seen worse
I suffered for years no knowing what I was eating. Then I divorced her.
Mostly I know what I am eating, I actually produce part of what I eat.
The potatoes, cucumbers, onions, carrots, tomatoes, peas I know exactly what they are and how they were raised.
Beef
Apparently not – Beef / Horse who knows