Artificial Colors and Flavors
Look at the ingredients list on processed foods and you may see ‘artificial color’ and ‘artificial flavor’ there.
But what are these mystery ingredients? Their name gives no clue what they’re actually made of.
Up until the late 18th century, if you wanted strawberry flavor in a food, you needed fresh strawberries. Then about 130 years ago, chemists found a wonderful new solution for food companies; coal tar. Mine coal from the ground, crush it, mix with water, cook it to make a thick soup, heat it up, evaporate the vapors, cool them and one of the (many) things you get is . . . artificial strawberry flavor.
It was a boon to the food industry. For the first time in history, they could have strawberry flavor year-round. Or, at least something that fools your taste buds into thinking it’s strawberry.
Years later, an even better source was found. Crude oil. That’s right, Texas Tea. Black Gold. Petroleum. Yeah, that stuff.
Chemists found they could distill a whole army of new products from crude oil, and coal tar fell from favor. Gasoline, kerosene, jet fuel, diesel fuel, motor oil, axle grease, anti-freeze, insecticides, pesticides, mildewcides, rodenticides, bike helmets, pharmaceuticals, food wrap, toys, CD’s (and their cases), vinyl siding, trash bags, plumbing, lawn furniture, artificial strawberry flavor, artificial blueberry flavor, almond flavor, banana, grape, orange, vanilla, yellow coloring, red, green, blue . . . You name it, the list just goes on and on and on. It’s really very versatile stuff.
But it’s not food. Artificial colors and flavors are made from crude oil.
Put it in your gas tank? Stinky. Put it in your mouth and eat it? You can do better.
Strangely enough, this branch of chemistry is called “organic chemistry“ while everything else is called “inorganic chemistry.” Organic food producers must really love this little irony.
Crude oil is simply all the plants and critters that were growing a long time ago, all smooshed together. If we did that today, it would be like filling a giant blender with everything around us – corn stalks, poison dart frogs, mosquitoes, bacteria, sunflower roots, oak leaves, poison ivy, tree bark, sulfur, arsenic, lead, poison mushrooms, cherry blossoms, some stuff that’s good for us, some stuff that isn’t, plants that slow our heartbeat or make our hair fall out (or grow thicker), quite a few things that cause cancer, probably a few that cure it. Everything. Blend well, cover with dirt and let it brew for 65 million years.
So, the next time you read a food label (you do read ’em, don’t you?) and you see artificial color, artificial flavor, BHA, BHT, propylene glycol, or almost anything else you can’t pronounce, at least you’ll know where it came from, even if you still won’t know what it is. You’d need an advanced chemistry degree to really understand it. And it won’t be strawberry, even if they can fool you.
It’s not food. It’s not good for you. That’s why they won’t list “made from crude oil by-products” on the label.
Charlie Gosh
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Great Post. I added your Blog to my bookmarks.
u dont realy believe this do you? thats not rite
WOW ! ! ! ! ! that sux ! ! ! ! !
I used to like diet pop. Now, not so much
I heard about this a long time ago but didn’t believe it. Is this true?
is htis legal?
go vegan!
This is horrid. What else do they feed us?
thats not right. is this legal? are you sure? idont beleve it
That’s it! I’m swearing off food!
fake flavors are for luzers
I get sick when I eat artificial yellow
we wont eat that junk any more
Just WOW
you dont reely expect me to stop eating this do you
This is SICK
This should be illegal
I knew this stuff was bad but didn’t know what it was realy from. Thats messed up.
thats not so bad theirs just a little bit in their
So what are real flavors made from?
I new this was bad for you
Anything tht doesn’t kill me makes me stronger!
My health teacher told us about this 10 years ago.
gluten is bad for you to
Thats why they call them fake
So how come its not on the label?
I think they taste funny too
had no idea
Where did you find this stuff? I looked it up and it’s real. I checked for free money too and found $29.
Great blog post.
Sincerest regards
WTF? this cant be true
Bette
I guess my question is whether the artificial flavorants actually occur in food, or if these synthesized flavors simply have a similar sensory expression. Artificial blueberry, for example, definitely doesn’t taste like real blueberry. But I don’t know if that’s because it is fundamentally different from the chemicals in fruit or if it simply isn’t as complex as what nature provides.
One thing I have to object to is your characterization of organic chemistry. Broadly speaking it is chemistry involving carbon-based materials. This terminology pre-dated the idea of organic food, which ironically can be farmed with inorganic poisons like copper sulfate. Hydrocarbon processing (oil refining) is in the scientific sense organic. The stuff comes from decaying living things and is carbon based. Assuming the compound derived are pure, it doesn’t matter whether your C’s and H’s and N’s came from oil or your backyard. An atom of C is an atom of C regardless of where it has been.
I do think we need a very healthy skepticism of where these ingredients come from. Creating fear by association is not the way to go, though. Crops can be fertilized naturally with cow poop, and if I use your logic, then these crops are tainted by cow poop. There are steps in the process between the raw material and the food item. If given the choice I will take real blueberry over fake blueberry every time, but I honestly don’t know what’s in artificial blueberry. We as consumers need to push for disclosure and take responsibility to understand what we put in our bodies. It is safest just to eat natural, absolutely, but we can’t be lazy and fall back on a crutch, either.
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You have tested it and writing form your personal experience or you find some information online?
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