Subway Steps Up & Bans Azodicarbonamide, while the FDA endorses it.

Recently it seems that every other week  it is brought to our attention that harmful addictives and preservatives in the  most popular American foods, are linked to disparaging effects to our health and this week is no different.

Azodicarbonamide, which is also used in yoga mats and the soles for shoes is an additive that is banned almost everywhere in the world, including Europe and Australia. The chemical recently caught public attention and stirred up some ruckus with N.Y. Sen. Chuck Schumer, saying it could be filling billions and billions with toxic chemicals, and asks the Food and Drug Administration to ban the additive here in America.

Vani Hani, an activist and food blogger, is responsible for a petition with 57,000 signatures that she delivered to the cooperate offices of Subway, which lead them to remove this “bread conditioner” from their foods. She is also the person behind Kraft removing yellow dyes from it’s kids targeted Mac and Cheese.

While it seems feasible that other companies would follow in the footsteps of Subway, the FDA and McDonalds consider azosicarbonamide to be a safe chemical. McDonalds bread is riddled with the plastic chemical, which has been known to cause respiratory problems, as well as asthma. But the fast food company argues that they review their menu items and ingredients consistently and are in line with all FDA regulations.

The director of risk analysis for the National Center for Public Policy Research says that the FDA scientist should be trusted over a blogger and criticizes her for calling herself “The Food Babe.”

The National Center for Public Policy Research also promotes the message that “Black History Month Means Good Accomplishments... Overshadowed by Negativity" and should be renamed American History Month, and focus less on the segregation, Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Era.

Food Regulation in my opinion is a very serious issue, that can only be dealt with if the American people stop blindly consuming foods that are completely unnatural, and start looking at the ingredients, and demanding that regulations be tightened, or at least that the proper knowledge of these so called safe ingredients be further investigated and the findings clearly reported on.

It’s no question that people lived longer and had less health problems, before you could pop a frozen dinner in the microwave or eat a burger that is marketed on quantity and time efficiency rather than quality and nutrients, or that people in other countries who consume home grown and less processed food have a higher life expectancy than the average non-smoking American, but I guess living longer doesn’t matter much anymore.

It would be nice to think that the government cares about food regulation, and would never put anything in foods that would harm us, but in reality money is all that matters. These additives are used to preserve food for longer amounts of time, make the food look, and taste better, not in the concern of the effects on the human body, but in concern with cutting cost.

While representative from the National Center for Public policy research says what Subway did is, “purely public relations” and an aim to promote itself as a healthy fast food company, I applaud Subway for taking these steps to do what 57,000 people thought would be beneficial to their health, and if it takes a Food Babe to make a call to action, it’s still a lot more than I can say for our federal government.