DailyDirt: Food Forensics For Fighting Fraud
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
The global food supply chain generally delivers products that are safe to drink and eat, but every so often there are some stories about unscrupulous distributors who try to sell knockoff items that aren’t exactly what they say they are. The infamous 2008 scandal in China is probably the scariest example where melamine was added to infant formula to make it look like the milk had a higher protein content. Less dangerous tricks involve deceptive food labeling practices, and it can be extremely difficult to detect food fraud when it’s not so egregious. Here are just a few links on identifying authentic foods.
- Olive oil from Italy might not be as virgin as you might think. One estimate says 69% of olive oil sold in the US may be doctored — diluted with cheaper oils or otherwise adulterated. [url]
- Natural organic flavorings (eg. vanilla, cinnamon oil, anise oil) can be more expensive than chemically synthesized additives, but it’s usually not that hard to tell the difference. Natural oils contain ambient levels of carbon-14 atoms, whereas artificial flavorings made from petroleum distillates contain no trace amounts of this radioactive isotope of carbon. [url]
- If you drink bottled water that says the water is straight from a natural spring, how does anyone really know if they didn’t just filter some tap water and bottle it? The isotopic composition of water can indicate the authenticity, but how often do you test your hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios…. [url]
If you’d like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.
Filed Under: artificial flavoring, authenticity, bottled water, c14, evoo, food, melamine, natural flavorings, olive oil, radioisotopes, tap water, vanilla, water
Comments on “DailyDirt: Food Forensics For Fighting Fraud”
Taco Bell uses beef ..
Water
Some bottled water says from municipal sources and it may be filtered.
am i the only one who finds that 69% of the supposedly virgin oil being not virgin funny?
C’mmon, there is hardly any real food in your supermarket these days.
You Big Mac is made of industrial waste, and tastes the same all over the world.
So does Marlboro.
Why? Because of chemical magic that comes from the very SAME production line of International Food and Fragrances in New Jersey.
Memba Pink Slime?
So we just test for radiation to see if it is real or not?
WTF did I do with my ambient radiation tester?
It’s easy to market garbage just trademark the word organic or black angus ,then you can sell 100% black angus cardboard , or organic turd burgers with no risk, because the labeling Isn’t lying.
This is why we need labeling laws passed, Knowing Is half the battle
{Insert The More You Know Jingle Here}
Olive oil from Italy might not be as virgin as you might think.
So the dirty slut cheated on Popeye? I’ll bet it was with Bluto!
Re: Bluto !
his name was Brutis!
You mentioned “Angus Beef” ™
That is purely a marketing name. There is an Angus breed, which came the Angus region, but that has little to do with the name. Pay the trademark holder money and you can use the name on just about any meat product.
Several contaminated hamburger recalls involved products with name such as “American Chef?s Selection Angus Beef Patties” and “Range Fed Angus Beef Burgers”.
The big 2007 hamburger recall resulted in a USDA investigation, and FOIA requests by the New York Times revealed what those products are. If there is any Angus breed beef in the burgers, it’s a coincidence. The ‘America’s Chef’ product come from at least four different facilities. It was mostly ‘retired’ dairy cattle, with fat from trimmings of better cuts and ammonia treated carcass scrapings (pink slime). It took weeks to track down where the various sources for a single batch of hamburger.
But back to the real point: if it says “Angus”, it’s probably the lowest grade meat product with a marketing spin.
Re: Re:
“Pay the trademark holder money and you can use the name on just about any meat product.”
I believe you because I have heard this from a butcher friend of mine, but it is not only bullshit, but cowshit as well! Where is the consumer protection in that?
Truffle Oil
Each description for oil is very good and describes its benefits but Truffle Butter. This is perfect plan for those ladies who wish to manage their health. You can use it in your foods.