Ahhhhh! There are chemicals in my food!

Some thoughts about the organic/natural food movement from a chemical engineer:

1)      There will always be chemicals in your food. No matter what you do. Even if you become super self-reliant and grow all of your own food in your backyard (which I don’t suggest). Let’s do a little review of high school chemistry real quick. What is food- and everything else in the world- made up of? Tiny atoms that are bonded together to form chemicals. Little hydrogens, oxygens, carbons, etc. We take two hydrogens and an oxygen and bond them together and what chemical do we get? Water! Similarly, we can take other atoms and bond them together to make chemicals. And without this structure, nothing exists. Nothing. Not even air. And especially not your food. Even if it’s organic.

2)      Just because a chemical has a fancy name does not mean it’s bad for you. Did you know that drink you’re having is filled with dihydrogen monoxide? I can’t believe you would drink that stuff! It’s a fancy name for water, actually. Oh and how about eating something flavored with 2-methyl butyraldehyde? Don’t like it? Then better stop eating blueberries. Even the all-natural, organic kind, because that chemical is in there. It’s not added, it’s already there.

3)      Just because a chemical is used in something non-food related, doesn’t mean it’s bad to have in your food.  Did you also know that the dihydrogen monoxide you are drinking is also used in windshield wiper fluid? Gross! Can you imagine putting the same chemical from windshield wiper fluid into your body? Oh and by the way, saying a chemical shouldn’t be eaten because it can be found in plastic is a copout.

4)      The Food and Drug Administration knows a whole lot more about what chemicals shouldn’t be in food than a simple google search does. Google is an amazing thing. We can learn so much about so many things. But that knowledge often puts us in danger of thinking we are smarter than experts because we read a Wikipedia page. The FDA is made up of people who have PhD’s in nutrition and chemistry and public health and food science. They know their stuff! And they have absolutely no motivation to allow toxic things to be put in your food. So maybe once you have studied one (or all!) of these topics for eight years of your life rather than reading a few blogs and talking to some friends, then feel free to question the FDA’s regulations about what chemicals should be allowed in foods.

5)      Food Manufacturers will never- I repeat- never put a chemical in your food that doesn’t serve a purpose. People seem to have this image in their heads of a mad scientist that mixes up weird chemicals and throws them in the food just for fun. Like the mad scientist says, “oh this long-named, funny sounding chemical is usually used for the rubber in car tires. But let’s add it to this batch of crackers I’m making. That will really have everyone coming back for more! And it will poison their children in the process!” Sounds ridiculous, right? Because it is. Any and every chemical you can find on an ingredient list is there for a reason. You may not agree with the reason, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one. If you oppose preservatives or pesticides, that’s fine, but realize your food will go bad quicker and be willing to share your meal with the bugs!

6)      Organic food is much more likely to be recalled than non-organic food. One of the main reasons- bacteria. Can’t have any of those antibacterial preservatives for the federally regulated “organic” label. The result- you run the risk of bacteria. I’d personally rather FDA approved preservatives that have been studied thoroughly and determined to be safe.

7)      All foods are processed! This one couldn’t possibly be true! Oh but it is. Shocking, right? Every food goes through a process. I tried to find a good definition for what organic foodies consider “processed” and I struggled. I’m sure it’s out there and that’s fine. But just know even fresh produce generally goes through a manufacturing plant and is packaged into boxes or bags. Sure, you buy the stuff at the store looking fresh under the sprinklers, but remember, the workers just unloaded it from some sort of container it was shipped in.

8)      Vaccinate your children! Okay, I know this one isn’t food related at all. But it’s super important so I’m putting it anyway. Just as the FDA knows more than you about food, the Centers for Disease Control knows WAY more than you do about children and diseases. One of my biggest pet peeves is when parents act like they know more about a disease than a doctor does, just because they read the Wikipedia page, WebMD, and a blog of other parents’ opinions. Vaccinations are safe and important. If you disagree, talk to me after you have spent 10-12 hours a day studying them for a minimum of eight years. Because 99.9%* of the people who have done that will say to vaccinate your children.

(*A made up statistic. But I don’t care. There are plenty of reliable statistics out there for vaccinations. Start working on those eight years of study, and you will find them.)

9)      And finally, start appreciating progress. I get that life is too fast-paced sometimes. I agree we should stop and smell the roses once in a while. But that doesn’t mean we have to grow all our own food and live separate from society. We have modern food technology and medicine and it’s a wonderful thing.

Feed your kid apples and carrots instead of cookies and chips. If you want to grow your own garden, great. That’s a wonderful thing. But be informed if you are going to act informed. Don’t say you hate chemistry and then claim to be a nutrition expert. And above all else, don’t look down on your neighbor because she doesn’t eat as all-natural as you do.