Most of the foods on our grocery store shelves contain additives, from preservatives and flavor enhancers to thickeners and food coloring. Many foods contain more than one additive, some containing three or more. Examining how to significantly reduce additives in our food supply is essential to Making America Healthy Again.
The WHO states that additives are used to improve safety and extend the amount of time food can be stored, among other reasons. The WHO also contends that additives are assessed for potential harmful effects before being approved.
The food industry justifies using food additives for several reasons, including preservation, appearance, flavor, texture, and nutritional value. Some justifications may be valid, such as those for shelf-life and maintaining freshness, color, and taste; however, many preservatives are not safe for the human body.
Food additives have been used for everything from preserving foods to enhancing flavors for thousands of years. However, the very first additives used were natural substances. Starting in the 1800s, technological advances and urban growth led to an increase in the demand for and output of food, taking the emphasis on obtaining food from local farms to the eventual grocery store. In 1916, in Memphis, Tennessee, the first grocery store, Piggly Wiggly, opened for business.
With the birth of the grocery store and the eventual creation of the supermarket in 1930, demand for food led to the need for a shelf-stable food supply that could remain non-perishable for an extended period. Food manufacturers also focused on the appeal of the foods they brought to the grocery store shelves. Along with this, food manufacturers started to look toward technology to create additives that were not researched for safety to the human body. The result was a growing number of additives used that allowed food companies to boost sales and meet an ever-growing demand for food, and that did not consider the health risks to Americans.
To some extent, additives used as preservatives are necessary due to the volume of food shipped to our grocery stores here in America. Salt was once used to preserve meat and fish. Today, everything from breads to deli meats and cheeses to boxes and bags of potato chips and snack crackers contains preservatives. Sodium nitrate is one of the more common preservatives for bacon, deli meats, and jerky.
Practically, it is not cost-effective for food manufacturers to prepare and package foods in mass quantities without additives. With the ever-growing population in America and the need to mass produce food products, if shelf life is not prolonged, the foods in our grocery stores would spoil at an unsustainable rate, causing significant financial loss to manufacturers and unable to keep pace with the demand for food.
Food manufacturers also use additives to enhance the appearance of their products. The color and appealing look of the foods they produce increase sales. The ancient Egyptians used saffron to color food. Unfortunately, food manufacturers today use dyes such as red #3. The FDA has banned red #3; however, food manufacturers have until January 15, 2027, to reformulate their products and remove them from foods. At this point, along with red #3 still being allowed into our foods, many other dyes are still used, including red #40.
Flavor enhancers as additives have become widely used in processed foods, drinks, and meats. Food manufacturers have found that foods lose some of their flavor during the processing phase of production. Flavor enhancers may be natural, as in spices, but those enhancers are often synthetic or artificial. MSG is still widely used in many food products, even though it can cause side effects such as headaches and nausea.
Many times during the processing phase of food products, those foods lose their texture. Using additives gives those foods the desired texture that the manufacturer feels will increase sales. From chewing gum to snack cakes and deli meats, Americans expect different food items to have distinct textures. Therefore, additives from lecithins to guar gum are used for everything from creating crunch in cereals to the smoothness of chocolate and the creaminess of cheeses. Those additives also afford ice cream its frozen texture and smooth softness when served.
Additives are also used to enhance nutritional content by adding vitamins and minerals. This is called the process of fortification. Fortification is essential to supplement the possible lack of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients in Americans' diets. However, some of these added vitamins and minerals are synthetic. Pyroxidine hydrochloride, a synthetic form of Vitamin B6, is just one example of vitamins added to our foods that are synthetically created in a lab and not natural.
Many of the additives used in our foods for years have been known or suspected of being harmful to the human body. As much permission has been given to manufacturers to allow these additives into the foods they produce, there have also been those doctors and scientists who have worked to make our food supply healthier.
In 1902, Congress granted Dr. Harvey Wiley a grant to study the safety of food additives. After testing various additives, he pushed for passing the Pure Food and Drug Act. His research and conclusions that certain chemicals must be banned from food products met with much protest from the food industry. In 1906, Wiley was nicknamed "Father of the Pure Food and Drugs Act" when this act became law.
Our government has also had to take action to make our food supply safer. In 1950, during Halloween, children across America were becoming sick with severe diarrhea and abdominal cramps. Through much research, the FDA found the cause to be one of the food dyes used in candy, orange #1, and had to admit that it was not simply a harmless substance. Orange #1, derived from the byproducts of coal processing, was found to be toxic. This spurred the creation of the Delaney Committee, headed by Rep. James Delaney, D-N.Y. Subsequently, because of the work of this committee, The Color Additives Amendment was passed in 1960.
While the food industry argues that additives are necessary for many reasons, others profess that a diet of fresh, whole foods is the healthiest option for Americans. Additives are linked to increased disease, poor health, and the development of some health conditions. However, fresh and whole foods will not remain edible on the shelves for an extended period. Thankfully, our grocery stores have many natural, whole foods to choose from, with flexible hours of operation for our best convenience in shopping.
The answer to removing additives from our diets is not an easy one, but it can be done. The healthiest option is buying fresh, whole foods and cooking from scratch when possible. Doing so makes it much easier to know exactly what is in the food you eat. Using natural spices to flavor foods can make your food taste delicious; many spices have healing properties for some of the health conditions Americans have been diagnosed with. There are also options for whole grain chips and snack foods that are less processed than most of the snack foods in our grocery stores.
If we take the time to read the labels of the foods on our grocery store shelves and become educated about the additives listed, chances are we can eliminate most, if not all, of those additives from our diets. But more than that, the companies that manufacture the foods that line our grocery store shelves need to look at what they use as additives and why they choose those ingredients. To Make America Healthy Again, it needs to be a priority to have healthy foods available to Americans, and we, the people, need to take a stand against big food manufacturers and their choices of unhealthy additives.
