Food Makers Skimp on Ingredients in an Effort to Fatten Their Profits

re: Food Makers Skimp on Ingredients in an Effort to Fatten Their Profits

littlenutmeggirl_203 — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 14:51:50 GMT

One thing grocery stores are NOT skimping on is the increased practice of injecting meat and poultry products with "a natural solution" or water. Pork is injected with a "natural phosphate solution," poultry with a "natural broth," and now I've learned that hamburger is being injected with a "natural rosemary extract." Even my local Whole Foods market injects meat with water. I suppose water is the lessor of all evils, but the hamburger was only labeled, "minimally processed." I asked someone behind the counter if the hamburger had a solution added to it, and he said yes, they added rosemary extract to it. That was at Meijer. How can they get away with not putting that rosemary extract on the label? What they consider "natural" I do not. I don't like the idea of injecting water into the meat either. What kind of apparatus is used to do this, what water is used, and how often is it cleaned? I haven't seen much information about this, I just started noticing that meat and poultry started tasting different. Is there someplace to get more information on this?

re: Food Makers Skimp on Ingredients in an Effort to Fatten Their Profits

Beccadog — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 20:01:48 GMT

I've noticed that some toothpaste I bought from Trader Joe's has brand name nor ingredient label. While I like the taste of the tooth paste, I'm worried that it comes from China and God news what's in it.

re: Food Makers Skimp on Ingredients in an Effort to Fatten Their Profits

george tolhurst — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:14:39 GMT

INFLATION IS NOTHING BUT THE INCREASE OF MOINEY IN THE MARKETPLACE PRINTED BY THE PRIVATELY OWNED FEDERAL RESERVE.

WAKE UP AMEREICA YOU AARE RAPIDLEY LOOSING YOUR COUNTRY IF WE HAVEN'T ALREADY LOST IT.

re: Food Makers Skimp on Ingredients in an Effort to Fatten Their Profits

Kreative Keira — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 05:28:16 GMT

I think it's good that size is decreasing! People eat too much anyways! Americans eat more calories per day than any other people in the world.

They should learn to be satisified with for example 2.5 oz less of something anyways. Prices in the US are still SO MUCH CHEAPER THAN (most of) THE REST OF THE WORLD. Of course I'm not saying all countries (just wanted to get people's attention). But I do mean for example countries of Europe and Japan. Prices in a lot of countries for food has, for the most part, always been more expensive than prices in the US. Yet, people cope. Who needs a huge apple pie for $3......$3!!!! (I saw in my hometown last time I visited). You can't even buy a little slice of apple pie here, or any dessert for that matter for little as $3 in Japan. What's everyone complaining about?! What's wrong with being satisfied with eating less? Maybe people will lose weight and get off their medicine and save money in the long run anyways, don't you think?? I believe it's for the best actually. but that's just my opinion.

re: Food Makers Skimp on Ingredients in an Effort to Fatten Their Profits

bforrest — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:54:00 GMT

I recently picked up dog food (Canidae) for my 3 dogs. I noticed that it felt "lighter". I mentioned this to the cashier and she informed me that Canidae opted to "reduce" the bag by 5lbs and still charge the same amount.

re: Food Makers Skimp on Ingredients in an Effort to Fatten Their Profits

Jen47 — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 13:07:06 GMT

Anybody remember when a "can" of vegetables was 16oz? What do we get now for more money? probably 13.5oz. They absolutely are NOT into SUPERSIZING. UNLESS YOU PAY A WHOPPING PREMIUM.

re: Food Makers Skimp on Ingredients in an Effort to Fatten Their Profits

wordbird — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:36:39 GMT

There is a type of cinnamon used in one of the grocery store bakeries that I cannot tolerate for some reason. It not only doesn't taste as it should but it also caused some kind of reaction. It has been awhile since I had it but I'm assuming it was a way cheaper brand.

Also, I believe consumers that even care about prices understand that the cost increases will be passed along. Increased cost does not justify gouging, Decreased quality just automatically causes those who care about quality to change their eating habits.

I was raised on home cooked food prepared by two very good cooks, so I get quite irritated when something with simple ingredients is cheapened and made to taste much like the cardboard box it came in.

I also don't see the point of non-fat half and half, or buttermilk. Half and half is after all supposed to be half cream and half milk, and buttermilk obviously is supposed to have fat.

If recipes call for a bunch of green onions, how much different will it be if the "bunch" isn't really a bunch anymore?

Some of the best celery is grown on California's Central Coast, yet two hours away we get celery from Mexico that is already yellowing before the store even gets it. I thought it was because it came up from L.A. until I was told by the produce guy that it came from Mexico. I don't buy it there anymore.

In the early '70's Foster Freeze did something that changed their malts. Over the years I tried a couple more here and there (no more than 2 or 3) just to make sure it wasn't me. It wasn't. Whatever they did made a permanent change and other than the ones I used to check it out I haven't had any since. And I loved them. Even with a dairy intolerance, can you imagine how many (of something I loved) I would have had in 35 years? I only cheat for the good stuff!

re: Food Makers Skimp on Ingredients in an Effort to Fatten Their Profits

Jonathan B — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 23:29:46 GMT

It may not always be feasible to grow your own fruit and vegetables or even spices, especially if you so not live in a home with a yard or in an apartment with good natural light, but theres are some tricks to help you avoid the constant consumption of pseudo-food and over processed food.

1. Many towns have actual farmer's markets. In Oklahoma City, they even have a farmer's market that requires the sellers to sell local produce, so that you do not get stuck with imported and questionable produce.

It may be a bit more expensive to drive to these places, but a freezer can help you store your buys, so you can reduce the number of trips to these markets, and you can be assured of more local produce, and , in some cases, locally produced meat and dairy.

2. Use deli's for your bread, desserts and pastries. Many deli's make fresh bread, pastries, cookies and donuts which do not store as well as store-bought, since they are often made with basic ingredients and few or no fillers, but which can be frozen if not used immediately.

I have had a noticable difference in satisfaction from eating deli bread made that day, in comparison to some store bought bread that has a two week shelf life.

3. Get fruit and produce delivered from the internet. Amazon.com has a whole variety of fresh products that can be ordered over the internet, and delivered Express mail.

The process may be more expensive, but the quality is awesome, and any unused food can be frozen until ready to use. The internet site, David's ,even has a fruit of the month club that can have fresh fruit delivered to your door, without the need of growing a tree in your yard, or concern about pesticides or quality.

4. A trip to a local small town that has a farmer's market may allow a city dweller to locate local growers that they might not find in town, and make a combination food hunt and road trip a good way to have an enjoyable weekend.

re: Food Makers Skimp on Ingredients in an Effort to Fatten Their Profits

HealingMindN — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 21:32:08 GMT

To top it off, I'm pretty sure that the food producers make their product extra trashy for the big warehouse stores. You know how they have taste demonstrators? You can definitely taste the difference...

re: Food Makers Skimp on Ingredients in an Effort to Fatten Their Profits

Innerwisdom — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 21:12:02 GMT

The apparent rise in price may well be the actual devaluation of the dollar. This is the nature of central banking as we have with the Federal Reserve. One might do well to look at the profit angle. The big companies are driven to make more and more profit by the "so called investors" on wall street. Perhaps there something to look at here.

Is the stock market really a valid and honest entity? Oh well profit is the motive when we have these large monopolies. Cutting corners to make more profit rather than maintaining quality is perhaps driven by the forces of wall street. Could big government also be a problem. Too much control, too many high taxes, too much collusion between government and the big businesses.

The end result is what we now have, little freedom and a lot of garbage and regulations being jammed down our throats literally. The answer may be happening right before us as the economy collapses and the country becomes a dictatorship by the few.

The writing has been on the wall for some time, I hope that we are reading it now.

Happy Thursday

re: Food Makers Skimp on Ingredients in an Effort to Fatten Their Profits

sanderman — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 18:23:29 GMT

This article speaks of reading the ingredients whenever you buy food products. I am in the habit of doing that. I even read the ingredients on the label of supplements like those sold by Dr. Mercola. Imagine my surprise to find soybean oil listed as the first ingredient in Dr. Mercola's CoQ10 and Ubiquinol! Et tu, Doctor M? Dr. Mercola often promotes Dr. Kaayla T. Daniel's book, The Whole Soy Story. Which talks about avoiding soybean oil. I am confused.

re: Food Makers Skimp on Ingredients in an Effort to Fatten Their Profits

sobber — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:02:58 GMT

even my beloved trader joes puts guar gum into its kefir brrrrrrrrrrr...... i did let them know ; lets see what they do

re: Food Makers Skimp on Ingredients in an Effort to Fatten Their Profits

TheDJPolly — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:17:21 GMT

Throw MSG in the mix, not only do you get them addicted, increase your profits, but you also increase obesity, which leads to the pharmaceutical companies profiting from drugs to reduce obesity too. It's a vicious circle that can only be stopped by eating as much unprocessed, natural food as possible. Fresh herbs just taste better anyhow, and you can grow them on your windowsill.

re: Food Makers Skimp on Ingredients in an Effort to Fatten Their Profits

david — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:12:24 GMT

since the wealthy control most of what happens...always have and always will... economically, they are not about to give any more to the peasants than absolutely neccessary!

If it is going into your pocket in large amounts, then it has to be coming out of somebody elses.

...Up to you.

Sleep well.

re: Food Makers Skimp on Ingredients in an Effort to Fatten Their Profits

curious7 — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 12:37:52 GMT

Over the years all I have seen is the price of products go up, and at the same time quality goes down. This is not exclusive to food, everything we purchase exists under the same veil. If anyone watches any product on a regular basis one will see this reflected everywhere. Example, I love Granola, I watched the bars over the years shrink, but the price. Then in the eighties I purchased a Maglight, flashlight. Some years later I went back to purchase another and the quality was not the same. The newer flashlight was lighter, not nearly as rugged , though the company claims nothing has changed.