Top 10 reasons to buy organic
1.) Protect future generations - not
2.) Prevent soil erosion -not
3.) Protect water quality -maybe
4.) Save energy – maybe
5.) Keep chemicals off your plate - not
6.) Protect farms worker -maybe
7.) Help small farmers - maybe
8.) Support a true economy – probably not
9.) Promote biodiversity- not
10.) Better quality –relative to what
11. Animal welfare -maybe
12. Sense of control -yes
13. Sense of community -yes
Also covered:
Regulation
Labeling
“Natural”
In the case of “Big Ag” organic, I would say that 3,4,7,8,11 become “not”.
Organic Food, should you join The rebellion ?
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the chicken factory
Today’s Class:
Additives, Pesticides, and Natural
Toxicants
MAIN POINTS:
• What is a natural flavor?
• What is an “additive”?
• How are additives treated legally?
• Sources and types of “toxins”
• How are “natural toxicants” treated under
the law?
ADDITIVES
There are about 3,000 approved food
additives
1958 Amendments to
FD&C (Food Drug and Cosmetic) Act
“THE ACT”
• Regulates any substance..which becomes a component of
food, *if* not generally recognized as safe (by experts) or in
use prior to Jan 1, 1958.
• GRAS = Generally Recognized as Safe
• The Act excludes spices, smoke derivatives
• GRAS concept, ways to gain GRAS status
– Grand-fathered
– FDA GRAS-affirmation (Flavors- Flavor Extract Manufacturers
Association)
– Self-affirmation
Other additive requirements
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Intentional additive must “work”
Cannot be deceptive or conceal defects
Cannot reduce nutritional value
Cannot substitute for Good Manufacturing
Practices (GMPs) (canning example)
• Must have method of analysis
The FD&C Act also brought us
THE DELANY CLAUSE
“No additive shall be deemed safe if it is found
to induce cancer in humans or animals when
ingested in any amount.”
Many compounds naturally occurring in food
cannot meet this test.
Remember furfural in bread? Aflatoxins in peanut butter?
DELANY reflects a 1958 understanding of carcinogens
Types of Food Additives
Antioxidants
• Lipid oxidation gives rise to rancidity, off
flavors, off odors, and free radicals
• Anything that can be oxidized (Vit E, C) can
serve as antioxidant
• Can also exclude oxygen, use oxygen
impermeable packaging.
• BHA, BHT
Preservatives
• Salt
• Organic acids
– Benzoates
– Acetic, Citric, Lactic
• Sulfur dioxide
• Nitrite
Other additives
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Flavors, “natural flavor” from yeast
Natural flavors are defined (see next slide)
Flavor enhancers (MSG) , can be “natural”
Acidulants (natural or synthetic)
Sweeteners (ingredient)
Gums, thickeners and stabilizers
Surfactants
Nutrients (vitamins and minerals)
Emulsifiers
Enzymes
Chelators (EDTA) (Metals accelerate
degradative reactions)
The definition of natural flavorings & flavors
from Title 21, Section 101, part 22 of the Code of
Federal Regulations:
"The term natural flavor or natural flavoring means the
essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein
hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating
or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents
derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or
vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf
or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs,
dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose
significant function in food is flavoring rather than
nutritional."
Toxins in Food
Mother nature can be...
…well, a real “mother.”
“Human intake of nature’s pesticides
is about 10,000 times higher than
human intake of synthetic pesticides
that are rodent carcinogens.”
-American Council on Science and Health.
Three sources of toxins in food
• Endogenous toxins (part of the food)
• Naturally occurring toxins (made naturally on the
food) (aflatoxin)
• Synthetic toxins
Risk Assessment = Dose response + Exposure Assessment
Dose response: Threshold or no Threshold?
Toxicology- Dose response is the big
question for synthetic chemicals
Dose response: Threshold or no Threshold?
(Relationship to Delany? Toxins v carcinogens)
Response
Dose
Risk Assessment = Dose Response + Exposure Assessment
ENDOGENOUS TOXINS
Naturally toxic chemicals in plants
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Hemaggultinins – castor and soy beans “ricin”
Cyanogens- cassava, beans
Phytoalexins – potato
Safarole – sassafras, black pepper
Nitrites – celery, dark green vegetables
Cyanide – apricot pits
“Solely the dose determines that a
thing is … a poison”
Parcelis, 16th century
(i.e. “The dose makes the poison.”)
Myristicin in carrots is a halluncinogen
> 400 mg required
*Carrots contain 0.6 ug/kg
You need to consume ~ 667 kg
(> 1,000 pounds) to reach the effective dose
*Mutmeg also contains myristicin, and a few
tablespoons can get you high (or sick)
NATURALLY OCCURING TOXINS
Fungal Toxicants
Ochratoxin
Cereal grains
Patulin
50 ppb
Alimentary
toxic alukia
Apple products Kidney
Zeraralenone
Corn, wheat
Cereal grains
Kidney
Bone
marrow
80% fatality
Hyper-estrogenisms
Ergot alkaloids- associated with rye, delusions and hallucinations
Aflatoxin – corn and peanuts
15 ppb ok (legally)
Marine Toxins
FUGU FISH
One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish,
Blue Fish
Homer à manger du Fugu, un
poisson mortel, dans un restaurant
japonais. Il ne lui reste plus alors
que 24 heures à vivre.
Saxitoxin – clams, paralytic shell-fish poisoning, red tide
Domoic Acid - muscles
Bioaccumulation
Animal Testing
Animal Testing
“Animal foods
tested on humans”
Chemicals in the environment
• Pesticides – act against insects
-Organochlorides – persist (DDT)
-Organophosphates – degrade
• Herbicides – act against weeds
• Integrated Pest Management
• Use of Pesticides and Herbicides has
decreased 50% since 1980
Pesticides
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300 active ingredient
10,000 uses
1.2 billion pounds
~ 8 lbs/ person
(applied)
• $20 billion crops
destroyed (w/
pesticides)
• Fungicides prevent
aflatoxin
• Increase yield, decrease
crop losses
• Regulated by EPA,
USDA, FDA
Many arguments for and against pesticides
-impact of genetic engineering
Pesticide Testing (is limited)
• No detectable pesticides in 60% of
conventional produce
Pesticide Testing (is limited)
• No detectable pesticides in 60% of
conventional produce
•
Pesticides are detected in 40% of
produce
Pesticide Testing (is limited)
• No detectable pesticides in 60% of conventional produce
• Pesticides are detected in 40% of produce
• In 39%, detection is at less than onetenth of tolerance level (which has 100fold safety factor)
• Only 1 % of produce tested has
pesticides in excess of tolerance
• Wash with warm soapy water
Other nasty beasties
• Carcinogens in smoked foods
• Pyrolysis products
• PCBs – chloroacne, headache, numbness
“The hypothetical risk
posed by food
additives is greatly
exceeded by the very
real risk posed by not
eating.”
Enjoy your food.
-Prof. Don Schaffner,
Rutgers University