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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 21, 1977)
You deserve a break today, so get up... What chemical turns your hot dog red? By NICK GALLO Of the Emerald All components of food are chemicals. But food is no longer simply carbohydrates, fats, proteins, minerals and water. Now. there are anti oxidants, anti mycotics, buf fers, thickeners, emulsifiers, chelating ag ents, colors and flavors Call them addi tives." Some are safe, some are questionable, others have been outright banned by the Food and Drug Administration. Here is a list and some common terms found on labels of everyday foods. Acetic Acid—this substance gives vin egar its sharp taste and odor It preserves, flavors or acidifies foods. Acetone Peroxide—This chemical bleaches and ages flour. Since freshly mil led flour lacks the strength and resilience needed to produce fluffy, tender bread, bakers use chemicals to quicken the aging process. Coal Tar Dyes—This synthesis of col ored compounds from coal is converted and used in such industries as beverages, breakfast cereals, frozen desserts and meats. Benzoyl Peroxide — This powder bleaches flour within 24 hours of mixing Brominated Vegetable Oil—The density of this oil has been increased to that of water by being combined with bromine It is combined with flavors and added to carbo nated and noncarbonated fruit-flavored drinks. Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA) and Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT) — Both chemicals are used in processed foods that contain fat or oil to prevent polyunsaturated oils from oxidizing and becoming rancid The food industry maintains both chemicals also add to the shelf life of various products. Carrageenan—Manufacturers use car rageenan to add "body" to soft drinks, to thicken ice cream, jelly, sour cream and syrup, to stabilize the foam in beer, and tr, prevent the oil from separating out of frozen whipped topping Com Syrup—This solution of cornstarch mixed with acids or enzymes not only sweetens and thickens foods and bever ages but acts to retard crystalization of sugar and prevents loss of moisture in baked goods EDTA—Since factory-processed food White sugar may be sweet, but its food value is low By MARTHA BUSS Of the Emerald Sugar? It's that stuff that looks like salt and sometimes comes in cubes. The whole notion of while granulated sugar is so ingrained in modern Amenca that the other sugar forms often get shelved in the back cupboards of the mind as useless. Only in specialty cookbooks do the recipes call for alternative sugar forms And rarely can today's shopper buy honey, brown sugar or raw sugar with as much ease as the white granulated variety White granulated is king of sugars today. Hostess Twmkies, Baskin and Robbins ice cream, EMU chocolate cookies You name it, they re all stuffed with white sugar Even the "more nutritious sweets from home kitchens tend to have more white sugar in them than any other type of sugar Despite its popularity, however, white granulated sugar ranks far below brown sugar, honey and molasses on the nutrition scale And on top of its nutritive deficiencies, white granulated sugar carries a myth of quick energy Athletes often down a quick candy bar before a race, thinking its white sugar content will instantly give them a fast start and long endurance But the smarter athletes, instead, down a few tablespoonsful of honey several hours before the race. Whereas refined sugar is chemically complex and must first be broken down before it can go into the blood stream and thereby give the body an energy lift, honey already is in the simple sugar form which can dissolve into the blood stream almost immediately Most people realize the inefficiencies of white granulated sugar, but don't know what to do about it. Actually, however, sub stituting in alternative sugar types when cooking is easy, once you get the hang of it. Brown sugar, a less refined product of beet or cane sugar, compares equally cup for cup in cooking with white granulated Honey is pretty much the same, too. al though the recipe s liquid volume should be decreased by a quarter cup for every cup of honey substituted Canning with honey, however, requires a slightly different ap proach You can substitute honey for white granulated sugar in most canning recipes, but use only half the sugar amount called for. Use only mild honeys for canning so as not to overpower the flavor of the fruit being canned. Molasses comes in three forms Unsul phured molasses is manufactured from the juice of sunripened cane and is most com mon on grocery shelves. Sulphured molas ses is a by-product of refined sugar making and blackstrap molasses is a waste product of that same process The Joy of Cooking cookbook recom mends using no more molasses than half the amount of sugar called for in a recipe Add a half teaspoon soda for each cup of molasses used and omit the baking pow der And make sure to reduce the other liquids in the recipe by a quarter cup for each cup of molasses added Obviously, the alternative sugar forms will change the texture and taste of your concoction, so be prepared to experiment to find what suits you. But whatever you do, go easy on the sugar consumption Estimates in 1969 had each American annually eating 19 8 pounds of candy, 450 eight-ounce cans of carbonated beverages, 135 sticks of chew ing gum and another 75 pounds of general sugar consumption. For more information on honey and beekeeping, a display by Honey Heaven and beekeeper John Karlick is set up in the EMU today as part of the University's rec ognition of Food Day. Sugars, Honey and Molasses Compared Compoart(per 100 g. or 3Vt OZ) Molasses White Sugar Brown Sugar (Third Extraction (Granulated) (Beet or Cane) or Blackstrap) (Strained or Maple Extracted) Sugar Cataum Rtoaphorut Potassium 2 Vitamins Thiamin Riboflavin Niacm 0 0 0 1 30 10 mg 85 19 34 344 30 001 003 02 684 84 16 1 2927 0 11 0 19 20 mg 5 6 0 5 51 5 0 04 03 mg 143 11 1 4 242 14 unavoiditily contacts impunties irom meiai rollers, scrapers, blenders and containers, this chemical traps metal ions to prevent oxidation Hydroxylated Lecithin—Manufactured by treating soybean lecithin with peroxide, the food industry uses it as an emulsifier and antioxidant in baked goods, ice cream and margarine Imitation Beef and Chicken Flavors — These contain sugars, vegetable fat. hyd rolyzed vegetable protein, monosodium glutimate. ammo acids, disodium mosinate and modified starch Invert Sugar—This 50-50 mix of glucose and fructose is used in candy because it is sweeter, more soluble and easier to crystal lize than ordinary table sugar Meat Tendenzer — Some meatpackors inject proteases (extracts from plants or micro-organisms) into a steer s blood stream shortly before the animal is slaugh tered to loosen muscle fibers that contract in rigor mortis Sodium Benzoate — Under acidic condi tions found in fruit juices, carbonated drinks and salad dressing, this substance pre Vtfllia n *3 yiu»*wi Iinvivz-viyaiioii teria. fungi and yeas!) Sodium Erythorbate—A non-nulrilive re lative ol vitamin C, this chemical brightens the pink color of frankfurters, bologna and other cured meats Sodium Nitrate and Sodium Nitrite — Used to preserve ham. bacon, frankfurters, luncheon meats and smoked fish, both ad ditives also produce the characteristic pink color of cured foods and retard the growth of bacteria which cause botulism food poisoning Vegetable Oils — Since the human body cannot synthesize several fatty acids, it needs foods which contain them Linoleic acid, the most important of these acids, is highly concentrated in safflower and com oils Some acids are saturated, some un saturated, and others polyunsaturated Large amounts of saturated fats generally produce high cholesterol levels which have been linked to hardening of the arteries The above information is derived from Michael F Jacobson s "Eater's Digest The Consumer s Factbook of Food Additives Anchor Books, 1976 Food Da\) chews over the world’s food problems You can't get much more baste than food It s about the only thing that travers. * enemy lines and racial borders without a flinch Measly as it sometimes comes food is king of life America salutes food today Hundreds of cities and towns in all 50 stales have organized Food Day observances, and Eugene is no exception The 1977 celobra tion focuses on personal nutrition and international responsibility The Center for Science in the Pubic Interest has a hotline set up today in Washington, DC, where a staff of experts in domestc and global hunger, agricul ture. food additives, personal nutrition and food politcs and economics are on line to answer questions The toll free number (800-424-4981) will be in operation from 9 a m. to 7 p m EST. Here's a rundown of local Food Day events University: Displays on world hunger, solar food drying, tofu, beekeeping and honey and homecanning, along with sale booths with organic seeds and natural baked goods, will be set up on the EMU terrace Irom 10 am to 3 p m The Soil Frontier." a film, will be shown at 12 :30p m in Room 150, Geology Downtown: Local slides and (ilmstnps on work) hunger will be shown continu ously trom noon to 5 30 pm in the Atrium courtyard Sponsored by Hunger Informs tion Center-Clergy and Laity Concerned Included are the films "Guess Who's Coming to Breakfast," on Gulf and Western Corporation control in the Dominican Republic and "Hunger in the Global Community," with Sen Mark Hatfield \ Area Schools: Cooks will prepare a "basic meal" typical of the daily lood . ) most people in the world Classes will prepare international recipes and gather tor a tasting fair to share lood in a simulation of the unequal distribution of the world's food supply Both events are day-long at Lincoln Community School Honey-is just one of several alternatives to white sucjar Photo by Tonya Houq
