Joanna Blythman has recently published a book that is the definitive guide to processed and packaged foods called ‘Swallow This: Serving Up The Food Industry’s Darkest Secrets’. The book is getting a huge amount of press as it lays out the disturbing realities of modern food – all is not as it seems, even regarding what look like innocent ingredients.
While I feel I am preaching to the converted with the farm shop newsletter, there is still a huge amount of shocking information that very few people would know about, especially as food labeling is hiding the reality of what is in your food. If you buy a block of mature cheddar for your everyday sandwiches, this will have been “matured” through a process of blending young cheese with enzymes (lipases or proteases) to achieve a mature taste within 72 hours. Whereas a traditional cheddar takes 18 months under carefully controlled conditions and care to achieve it’s taste.
Blythman’s book also let’s you in on the secrets of packaging – and how even the most wholesome organic produce is contaminated by chemicals in the packaging.
The answer is to try and eat food from raw ingredients that are locally sourced (as they are fresher, have less packaging, and lower food miles). Funny that! Hope to see you soon!
In the meantime there is a decent extract from the book here
And you can purchase the book here