It's another rainy day here in sweet home Alabama and you know what that means. It's time to get educated. I don't know what it is about dark rainy days that make me want to read but they do...so I am. As I've been watching the stock market lately ,in hopes that our economy will come bouncing back one day soon, I've been spending more time reading the news. Today I came across an article that read "Cereal boxes cause cancer" and all I could think was "I'm doomed". Luckily I read a little further before running into the kitchen and disposing of all my Cinnamon toast crunch. Apparently this particular study found problems in European sold cereals. That got me to thinking about the foods I ,we, cram in our faces and we often don't even give it a second thought. But what if this happened in America? Guess what.
In this particular case study in Germany & Switzerland, scientist found levels of up to 100 times the agreed safe limit of petroleum oils found in several products sold in supermarkets. Mineral oil hydrocarbons to be exact have been found to potentially cause cancer if consumed. Experts agree that newspaper used to produce the recycled cardboard containers may be the cause of the contamination. The inks used to print the newspaper have been known to be toxic for years and information about them is available at the click of a button BUT old newspaper is cheap and plentiful.
Some companies like Britain's Jordan cereal have already stopped using recycled cardboard sourced from old newspaper but companies like Kellogg's are still lingering behind. This comes with no surprise as Kellogg's has just recently had to recall 28million children cereals due to contamination from packaging. This is insane! What's even more insane than that is while you're reading this you are starting to think about the cereal in your cabinet.....but what about your rice, pasta & grains? It's not just cereal, anything stored in cardboard covered in colorful images or plastic bags is susceptible to chemical leaching, this includes metal cans lined with polycarbonate plastics. It's kind of a scary thought.
Now, I'm not saying that you should stop eating food that's packaged in cardboard, plastic or metal because that would just about mean you would have to farm or starve. Though we encourage agriculture and a responsible diet we know there are more reasonable ways to eat healthily.
By buying locally grown fruits and vegetables as well as livestock you greatly reduce your risk of chemical leaching. Knowing who grows your food and where it comes from is a powerful feeling we ,as Americans, have learned to forget. If you don't have the time or the money required for a localist type lifestyle then at least get involved and send a letter to the companies that manufacture your food, ESPECIALLY when they show up in the news for bone head mistakes like chemical leaching. Let them know the public is aware. This goes for organic and non-organic foods alike. Organic doesn't mean it's exempt from human error, one of the largest producers of organic cereals (in England) found themselves victim in this cardboard caper. This just goes to show that just because the intentions were pure that the product isn't always perfect.
Clean is a life style just like Green. Though we can't help you make the decisions you need to make we can do our part to make sure you're making an informed decision.
Think before you eat.
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