When I first looked at the image I couldn’t make out the potatoes? As an European I was really interested in the ingredients of this. I knew US food safety is debatable and the regulations are much weaker than in the EU, but what the fuck is this? This is the most insane ingredient list I saw in my whole life. How is it possible you do not glow green and shit silver colored liquids after digesting this? It makes me really sad that people really have to eat such garbage. The US is such a shithole for poor people. (Still loving you, at least the portion that stayed sane)
How is it possible you do not glow green and shit silver colored liquids after digesting this?
Food labeling in the US uses industrial or chemical names because… actually I’m not sure why we do that. I’m guessing it was some well-meaning but misguided regulatory idea. Anyways it makes our food labels sound absurd when they’re, as with this example, pretty straightforwardly just food.
The two big questionable things are the margarine and the TVP - both (imho) pretty gross for textural reasons, but both also staples of vegan diets and have been around for 50+ years. I’m gonna gloss over those because there’s tons of documentation on what goes into them online, it would take ages to break everything down (and I’m lazy), and honestly they’re just pretty inoffensive. Beyond that:
Modified Corn Starch: This is a fancy name for anything from malted or low-boiled (boiled in a mild acid) starch. Humans have been doing this for millennia (it took me forever to spell that), there are a million variations based on the malting process or type of acid or etc.
Corn Syrup Solid: dehydrated glucose (ground sugar, but derived from corn starch (which is itself just complex sugar) instead of things like sugar cane/beets)
Natural Mesquite Smoke Flavor: Also called “liquid smoke”, it’s shockingly close to literally being smoke in liquid form. It’s the condensed vapors you get from heating wood
Disodium Dihydrogen Pyrophosphate - A truly ridiculous name for baking powder
Mono-And Diglycerides: Naturally occurring, found in food oils
BHT: this one is really contentious. It’s a naturally occurring antioxident found in a ton of fruits and nuts in low concentrations, but it’s been recently (2022) banned in the EU, though it’s still present in plenty of EU foods in small amounts. There’s been pressure to get it banned in the US too, so hopefully that happens soon
Sodium Bisulfite: salt
Monosodium Glutamate: MSG, the flavor enhancer
Xanthan gum: a complex extra-sticky sugar
Guar gum: Guar-bean juice. As with Xanthan gum it’s just a complex extra sticky sugar, but this one has been used for centuries to thicken foods
Soy Protein Concentrate: Cooked, mashed soybeans
Dextrose: sugar (chemically identical to glucose, again not sure why we feel the need to obfuscate this one)
Sodium Phosphate: salt
Mechanically Separated Chicken: Ground chicken
I’ll freely admit it’s not good food (I mean who adds sugar to corn) but it’s all food. Just food with dumb names.
When I first looked at the image I couldn’t make out the potatoes? As an European I was really interested in the ingredients of this. I knew US food safety is debatable and the regulations are much weaker than in the EU, but what the fuck is this? This is the most insane ingredient list I saw in my whole life. How is it possible you do not glow green and shit silver colored liquids after digesting this? It makes me really sad that people really have to eat such garbage. The US is such a shithole for poor people. (Still loving you, at least the portion that stayed sane)
BBQ Sauce
Mashed Potatoes
Rib Shaped Patty:
Less Than 2% Of :
Corn:
Food labeling in the US uses industrial or chemical names because… actually I’m not sure why we do that. I’m guessing it was some well-meaning but misguided regulatory idea. Anyways it makes our food labels sound absurd when they’re, as with this example, pretty straightforwardly just food.
The two big questionable things are the margarine and the TVP - both (imho) pretty gross for textural reasons, but both also staples of vegan diets and have been around for 50+ years. I’m gonna gloss over those because there’s tons of documentation on what goes into them online, it would take ages to break everything down (and I’m lazy), and honestly they’re just pretty inoffensive. Beyond that:
I’ll freely admit it’s not good food (I mean who adds sugar to corn) but it’s all food. Just food with dumb names.