Posted by RenaissanceTrophyWife on January 29, 2009
Image from mercuryinyourhome.com
Yet another good reason to stay away from processed foods– you might be getting more than you bargained for in the form of heavy-metal contaminated high fructose corn syrup (HCFS).
According to a recent study released by the Environmental Health journal, 9 of 20 samples of commercial high fructose corn syrup (HCFS) contained mercury. (A pdf of the study can be found here.)
The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) conducted a separate study in which they detected mercury in nearly one-third of 55 food and beverage products where HFCS is the first or second highest labeled ingredient—including products by Quaker, Hershey’s, Kraft and Smucker’s. (The pdf of their report can be found here.)
According to the IATP report,
“mercury was found at levels several times higher than the lowest detectable limits in some snack bars, barbecue sauce, sloppy joe mix, yogurt and chocolate syrup. Although closer to the detection limit, elevated mercury levels were also found in some soda pop, strawberry jelly, catsup and chocolate milk.”
(The list of 55 tested foods, along with detected mercury levels, is here.)
How does mercury get into HCFS?
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Apple a Day | Tagged: food, health, high fructose corn syrup, mercury, processed food, sweetener, toxic, toxin | 4 Comments »
Posted by RenaissanceTrophyWife on January 29, 2009
This article, courtesy of the WSJ, is full of good advice on what to look for on the label when you’re buying a bottle. Obviously judging a wine by its label is a little like judging a book by its cover, but considering these various factors may give you a greater chance of successfully picking a bottle you like.
Image from winepros.org
I particularly heart little anecdotes like this:
Details, details, details. When we were young, we were fond of the late Hanns Kornell’s Sehr Trocken, one of a handful of sparkling wines he made at his California winery. On the back label was a hand-printed date of when the wine was “disgorged,” when the sediment in the neck of a bottle of bubbly was removed and the temporary cap replaced by a real cork. On the front of each bottle was this notation: “Naturally fermented in this bottle,” which was a big deal because that’s the way real Champagne is made, with the bubbly fermentation taking place in the bottle and not in a huge tank. We love information like that and some wineries still give it, including the dates when the grapes were harvested and the wine bottled. Details like these make the point that these things mattered to the winemaker and that he or she understands that they have meaning for the consumer, too. They add to the feeling of the wine’s authenticity.
Have you ever picked a wine by its label? Was the wine great or disappointing?
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Posted in Domestic Diva | Tagged: bottle, drink, label, wine | 2 Comments »
