louisa

interesting point about food labelling. i heard somewhere that the labels do not actually have to reflect truthfully what the ingredients are in canada. there is no legislation as there is in the UK so who knows what you're eating here. so we do not know if we are eating genetically modified foods here, i think in the UK they have to state that? anybody else heard that?

fried_emu

Tony Blair is on record as saying " England should push the use of genetically modified food, I can't see the problem."

I have yet to meet a UK resident who actually reads the label of the foods they buy. No one seems to be aware of the hazards of GM foods or artificial sweetners or not having the eggs in a fridge.

In the UK, Autism has 18 subcategories. I was told the is due to how widespread the disease is over here. If the government took the time to research these things they would more than likely find out that it is related to the lack of affordable "natural" or "free from" foods.

fried

Gezza

You could be right.!

louisa

let's compare. here's what GM foods are allowed in the UK:

GM soya
GM maize

here's what is sold in Canada:

corn
soybean
cotton seed
potatoes
flax
tomatoes
sugar beets
squash
canola
papaya

dingbat

Oh please. I did. I do. I wrote letters about GM foods to the Thatcher government. Artificial sweeteners and links to carcinogenic activity amongst other issues is old news, anyone with a brain knows about that. My eggs always have been and always will be stored in the fridge. I just spent the last three hours explaining how the Berlin wall falling affected the European economy to 4th year University students who would have trouble reading the Beano. Dummies exist everywhere Fried.

crazydaisy

Me too - I always put eggs in the fridge and always read labels of things both in the US and back when I was in the UK. Having said that the debate on GM foods is just as confusing as the debate on irradiated foods - I am concerned about what goes on during the irradiation process and then get angry when foods that haven't been irradiated and go off too quick end up in the bin. I suppose these days they have to comply with what people prefer - nice, shiny looking fruit and veg. that stays looking nice for longer or veg. that's better for you if you get to eat it before the bugs and mold gets to it!! Back to GM foods though - the main concern for me personally is not the effect on my food but the effect of it polluting organically grown crops so that other people would have to suffer the wrath of my GM poisons!

fried_emu

I am not calling British people Dummies that was your word not mine. I feel that they have been misinformed by the Government. I personally am campaining in my area to change this. It is unfortunate because I am getting laughed at about the artificial sweetners issue, no one believes or cares, again there is the severe price issue. Foods with sweetners in them are less expensive! They serve foods in schools and hospitals that are heavily laced with artificial sweetners on a daily basis.


Re: Eggs in the fridge

Yes, you put them in the fridge --- but did you buy them from a fridge. The answer would be NO. I have been to many stores large and small and the eggs are NEVER kept in the fridges!!!!! You may have had good habits, but what about before the foods gets to you?

Re; Artificial Sweetners:

My GP (UK) actually recommends to his patient to eat foods with sweetneres in them, it's healthier he says!!!!
He said that there is no "British" proof that artificial sweetners are bad.

Forgive me I didn't mean to imply that the british are stupid. My Mum, Dad, sister, my youngest, and I were all born in Yorkshire, thus we are british.

Fried

fried_emu

I have just found out that they feed the cattle, lambs and fowl in the UK GM feed. They don't have to put that on the packaging of the meat, becuase of the amount of steps taken to get the product to the shelf. "organic meats" seem to be the only GM free meat.

This info was taken of the UK gov't regulations site.

The "good" side affect of this - since moving to the UK my cup size has increased from a B to a EE. My hubby says I eat to much Chicken.

daisymoll

People are so paranoid over here about food etc and yet there seems to be more problems over here too (Higher incidence of nut allergies/scent allergies) ...Life is too short to worry about all these things all of the time, if we did we just wouldn't do anything, we would have to go out in spacesuits.

As an aside I have noticed just as many things in Canada with 'Aspartame' in as in the UK. I think the States has banned aspartame.

I also can't stand this move towards antibacterial everything as this is what is leading to superbugs and I realise that this one is happening in Canada and the UK. We need exposure to bugs in order to build up a resistance to them. You don't seem to be able to buy soap or cleaning products that aren't antibacterial which is what I want to do.

tonster

Add to that list Chicken - recently bought some chicken which was "enhanced" with soya. Tasted awful so I took it back.

Corky

Oh tonster, tell me what store you bought that in so I can avoid it!!! Yuk

daisymoll

Bought it in Chris Brothers, it was disgusting. From the reaction we got when we took it back it seems everyone else took theirs back too...

crazydaisy

Yeah - I must admit the excessive amount of antibiotics used is a worry to me. The chickens in the US are huge but several times I've cut into them and tons of water came gushing out and the skin had a layer of fat under it so when you get to the real chicken inside there's not much left to eat and I actually felt quite sick even contemplating eating it - ugh! They also inject them with gravy and all sorts - why can't chicken just be chicken and people be allowed to add their additives if they so desire?

Daltrey

The US is the country responsible for creating
aspartame (which is essentially wood alcohol)
and in allowing it to be sold.

Aspartame has a very interesting story,it was
originally researched in depth by the FDA
when it came out,the director at the time,
said it was too risky and potentially dangerous.

He made it known that he would not approve
it.

Ronald Reagan newly elected had monetary/political ties to
the company that developed aspartame.

Upon finding that aspartame was going to be banned
he promptly fired the director and replaced him with his guy who of course passed aspartame.

Aspartame is sold everywhere and in everything in the US,
and will continue to be.

Experts say that the amount of wood alcohol that you are consuming in the average softdrink is hardly
anything to be alarmed about.

Although it does cause cancer in rats in large
doses over a period of time.

They figure the average human would have to drink
quite a lot of aspartame over their lifetime to really worry
about it.

Or at least that's what they hope.

ClareBC

have you read "Fast Food Nation"? It is a bit of a diatribe, but I did find it the info about the butchering process very concerning.

Also, I wasn't sure how much applied to the US or North America as a whole.


Clare