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WHAT'S IN YOUR FOOD?
How many people have the time to read the contents of every packet they buy in the supermarket?
"It takes long enough walking round the shelves and queuing without reading packaging!" I hear you say. "And anyway, they wouldn't use the stuff if it wasn't safe".
READ ON!
There was a time when the world was a simpler place. People either grew their own needs or bought from a local farmer. WAS is the operative word there. Things have changed BIG TIME, and the public's demand for a greater variety of food items and new taste experiences has led over the years to an explosion of choice when it comes to visiting your favourite supermarket. (Actually, is it public demand, or did the manufacturer's needs to improve profits spur the diversity on supermarket shelves?".

Few additives were needed in "those days" because fresh was the buzz word. The problem for food manufacturers was public demand meant they had to find ways to make all the food look more appealing, plus make sure it stayed fresh longer had to find ways to improve taste too.
We have always used chemicals in our food. Salt has been used for 1,000's of years, and so valued was salt in the Roman Empire, their soldiers were paid in salt, (that's where the word salary' comes from the Latin for salt). Natural food colourings were used watery extracts from plants.
Then the age of the food chemist arrived. The manufacturers wanted improved flavour, longer shelf life for their products. They needed chemicals to make all the ingredients stay mixed and not separate on the shelf. People wanted a sugar substitute, (and those sugar substitutes actually ended in the consumer wanting and eating even more sweet products). The manufacturers wanted to find alternative flavourings and colouring because the natural ones were in short supply or too expensive. And so it went on, and, like Topsy, just grew and grew.
Now, you might be thinking this is just about prepared and packaged goods THINK AGAIN! How about all those lovely fish vegetable and fruit on display? Produce not just from your locale, but literally from around the world. Time was when we looked forward to the first lettuce of the early summer tomatoes for the summer salad crisp apples. Now? You can have them all year round.
Ever wondered why the skin on your apples, oranges and other citrus fruit feels sort of greasy? Waxes sprayed on. Ever wondered what chemicals have been used to prevent crop loss from insects and parasites? They're used for sure.
You

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