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