FOOD ADDITIVES THAT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL

That's not really true. Im a lamb and cattle producer and I see that weight is the only determinant for market price. Even the issues of "grde" have been somewhat negotiated down from big wholesalers whove gotten psses by USDA veterinarians (meat inspectors)

Why then was seafood sold as "Dry pack" (mening unadulterated) really loaded with polyphosphate salts and water??
Did the customer choose to buy this "fake" stuff ?

I'm not saying there aren't dastardly producers out there. I'm saying that there is no way the government can prevent the sort of things that happened to you. If the discussion is limited to your one experience...

SO, because the state food laws and store policies were subverted by a supplier , you are saying that we shouldn't have these laws and store policies?

Seems a bit extreme to leave it all to the individual consumer.

Ill see whether laws and store policies prevent such a sale of "treated" food from happening again at this place.

No, I'm not saying that. I already said that the government's assistance in maintaining a healthy food market is something I value.

Need help kicking an ice cream habit?




http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castoreum

I make own my own ice cream, but of course I probably use bad ingredients.

I'm not very sympathetic for knocking at ice cream, homemade or store, however correct you may be, but maybe I'm wrong.

Of course better is better.

You might consider cross posting this to one of the humor threads, like Good Humor.

See, Good Humor is a brand of. . . Oh, never mind.

you wont be shocked that I read trade mags about doing food creation for the retail market that read like chemistry lectures. What really bothers me is that there is no standardization of ingredient lists, some ingredients can go by a half dozen different names, and many are not even listed at all except as catchalls such as "artificial flavor".

on my current pet peeve list is all of the different products that can call themselves "sour cream".

It does seem a bit over the top to use beaver piss and anal glands. BUT, I gotta say, if youre ever in the woods and are in range of a beaver dam and nest, youll know why. In the spring, when bacteria are active in the soil, the area around a beaver lodge does have a sweet smell and Ive been told its the dried castoream.
Its this property that is exploited and the stuff is diluted waay down and the active ingredient is used and listed . Im gonna check to see whether Castoream -free vanilla ice cream is available.
Vanillin used to be made from wood pulp sludge from paper mills. Even though the paper mill smells like rotten saur kraut, the sludge beds do have a slightly sweet odor that is enhanced by dilution and removing the mercaptan odors.

I wont be shocked at all. You do own a restaurant no? I have always been interested in Maillard reactions in the lab ever since I was doing borx bed analyses for rqre erths. We could induce certin smells by reacting amino acids (like ninhydrne which is used for color detection or another protein extract) and a carbonyl group ( sugar). We could make all sorts of smalls by adding teeny bits of alkalis and alkali earths into the mix. When I was still a chemist I was going to apply for a research position at Givoudan F&F in New Jersey. (The concept of Northern New Jersey was more distasteful than was anything else)
I could create a fony "Baked bread" smell by dosing up the chemical hot plate . Course itd only take a few degrees excursion either way and itd smell burnt.

We always add sugars (in various textures) to cooking where we brown meats, this adds a complexity of flavor that must be experienced.
Are you familiar with the Maillard reaction in creating sauces and "jous"?

That's interesting re the sour cream.

I barely use recipes, timers, measure, care about using the "right" lingo (my hostility here to "elites" should seem consistent).....cooking to me is art and I rarely do anything the same way twice except under duress, and I am zen so I cook by instinct. So yes I have heard of this Maillard reaction, but never cared enough to learn much about it. Usually when I do investigate these $3 words I am underwhelmed, as in "sure, I do that all the time but I never felt the need to name it".

Its a reaction that mostly can enhance meats by retaining that complex "rosty" taste and brown-bit gravy that makes the whole thing come together.
Its been in the literature since the late 1800's when Maillard discovered himself.
We never go meatless in a meal and we always make sure tht, before we make stews or fricasses, we hve a noce roasted base that has the meat get seared in a pan with some bit of sugar mearby.

BUT, in concert with this thread, you are able to buy "umami" type sauces in bottles that can enhance the flavor and many of these are chemical soups. SO, the old way is often the best.

Do you cook for your restaurant? You don't sound obsessive about cooking.
I don't know whether you recall CAV, a chef from Toronto who was obsessive about great foods and was always around to share his knowledge about cooking tips and stuff he learned and (developed further)
I learnt everything I know about scallops from him in PMs.
Sadly , he died in the beginning of what would have been fab career in Canadian cookery.

Pollan talks a lot about this. Back when I was cooking Army food (before they went to factory food) we used to add beef and chicken base to a lot of things just to accomplish this. A couple of generations ago kitchens had huge steam kettles and a sauce cook whos full job was to get the unami if I understand the term correctly.

I am fanatical about following recipes and consistent plating, not because I like it but because being a successful restaurateur demands it. I wish I could be like Bruce Naftaly who ran Le Gourmand in Seattle, he could do what ever he wanted on any given night.

I recently found out Ammonium Bicarbonate is used as a temporary preservative in seafood(. This explains the former taste I described). But how does one know the amount of consumption which is safe monthly or weekly for that matter...must the responsibility lie with the individual. Must I become a chemist to understand ?!

ammonium bicarb and sodium bicarb are added to act as a bacterial inhibitor. Their tastes are bitter and I believe that the stuff is washed off the seafood before it goes on sale.

Mot of these alkali bicarbonates have a nice effect as a laxative if you ingest more than you should. Im thinking that it cant be really that good but, probably not much harmwould result (unless you had a preexisting kidney condition).

Heres a list of additives that are permitted INSIDE Canada. So, while the Canadians adore the "natural" food web, they are presented with so many options to enhance color, taste, bacteriostats, etc

http://www.inspection.gc.ca/active/eng/anima/fispoi/product/additi/fispoiadd_dbe.asp

There are over 3,000 legal additives in the U.S. Not all of them are disclosed .Also quantities of consumption vary and this may have an impact on health. People are busy working, keeping a home, raising children. People being pulled in every direction. There are many who seriously don't have the time to educate themselves. Their energies exhausted. So many threats in sight. I believe people would benefit from having this information and it's ramifications be part of a core curriculum in high school...perhaps in addition to anatomy and physiology.

About eighteen years ago, one of the lunatic alternative medicine people I follow stated that the brown color in colas can cause cancer. Now, somebody establishment is beginning to think the same way.

These 11 Popular Sodas Tested Positive for a Potential Carcinogen
http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2014/01/sodas-contain-caramel-colored-carcinogen-4-mei

I drinkMalta Goya because it hs a really interesting flavor. The Malt taste is quite out front. Too bad, but I guess Id better er on the side of safety. (Probably a new advisory will oon come along stating that this is crap).

Immgoing to tqke a bottle of Malta Goya and run it through a Gooch filter with ome GAC (charcoal)) and see what happens, methyl midazole oughta be a big enough molecule to adsorb out.