January 20 2015

What's really cooking?

By: ROZZ Editorial

The first time I heard about organic food was when I moved to North America 2 years ago. In some places the term does not exist because everything is organic! I started questioning the nature of my produce when I noticed that they looked a bit too perfect...you know, all the same size, no blemishes. That didn't seem normal at all so I started investigating,

Healthy or Harmful?
Everyone is trying to eat healthy nowadays by choosing to eat more fruits and vegetables but what if the fruits we eat aren't as healthy as they used to be. Most fruits commercially grown are covered in a layer of wax such as shellac (made from the female Lac bug) and carnauba wax (produced by the leaves of the Carnauba palm).

Is your produce organice and healthy?

The FDA has labelled both of these waxes safe for human consumption because these waxes are indigestible by humans (we are unable to break down the wax and absorb the components into our bodies) but do we still want to consume them or have our children consume them?

Commercially grown fruits and vegetables are often waxed to prevent moisture loss, protect them from bruising during shipping, and increase their shelf life. Typically, simply washing your fruits will not remove the wax and the fruit should be peeled if you are (rightfully) concerned about the wax lining. However, most of the nutrients exist just under the skin and the skin itself is great for fibre so you are possibly eliminating most of the health benefits by peeling. It's a catch 22.

Organically grown fruits and vegetables do not contain synthetic (petroleum-based) wax coatings. However, certain waxes are permitted in the handling of certified organic fruits and vegetables so it may be a good idea to consult your grocer regardless.

Non-organic fruits and vegetables that are commonly waxed include: Cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, apples and oranges.

Let's talk chicken. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), "100 percent natural" means the poultry doesn't contain artificial ingredients like preservatives.

What's in our chicken?

Below are some of the more common terms used when speaking about chicken-rearing techniques.

Raised without antibiotics
Raised without antibiotics means that the chicken was not injected with antibiotics. If your chicken does not have this label it may or may not be anti-biotic free so it's best to look for the label to be sure. In Canada, supplements such as vitamins must be approved by a certification body.

Free Range
"Free range" refers to poultry that has been permitted to graze or forage outdoors as opposed to constantly being housed in a cage or chicken coop/hen house. This term is loosely defined and leads to the question "what happens during the US and Canadian winter when it's too harsh for the chicken to go outdoors?" The USDA regulations do not specify the quality or size of the outside range nor the duration of time an animal should be outdoors; while the European Union sets minimum standards for free range egg farming.

Grain Fed
Chickens are grain-fed if they were not fed animal by-products. The feed is typically a mix of corn, wheat, and barley . All chicken in Canada is given feed that consists of over 88% grain.

Vegetarian Grain Fed
Vegetarian grain fed means that the feed given to the flock contains no animal by-products, which are often added to feed as a protein source. In these cases, the feed contains only vegetable protein such as soy, which can alter the flavour and colour of the meat. An alternative is pasteurized poultry.

What does this mean for the consumer?
In terms of nutrition, the dairy products made from free range poultry tends to be lower in calories and total fat and their eggs contain more vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids than poultry raised using other methods.

Arsenic in our chicken

In 2011, the FDA finally admitted that chickens in the U.S. contained arsenic, a carcinogen which increases the risk of cancer when ingested in high doses.

The FDA conducted a study of 100 broiler chickens and "detected inorganic arsenic at higher levels in the livers of chickens treated with 3-Nitro compared with untreated chickens". Following this announcement, Alpharma, a subsidiary of Pfizer Inc. voluntarily suspended U.S. sales of the animal drug 3-Nitro (Roxarsone) which had been used since the 1940s to fight parasites and make chicken look plumper. Prior to this study the FDA and the poultry industry had said that the arsenic is excreted in the chicken feces (by the way, chicken litter containing arsenic is fed to cattle on beef farms) and does not end up in the chicken meat at all.

What about the rest of the world? Are other countries stlill ingesting "low levels" of arsenic in their chicken? Scott Brown of Pfizer Animal Health's Veterinary Medicine Research and Development division said the company also sells the ingredient in about a dozen other countries. "Pfizer is reaching out to regulatory authorities in those countries and will decide whether to sell it on an individual basis."

Whoop-de-doo! The responsible, but perhaps uneconomical, thing to do would be to stop providing this ingredient worldwide but we all know it's all about the money with these large companies.

Don't be afraid to inquire about what you are consuming
Ensure that chicken meat is bright pink in color
Select "Certified Organic" products

Source: FDA