Regulations
Labeling
GMOs
Additives
T or F
100
What FDA stand for?
Food and Drug Administration
100
Do food labels vary from country to country?
Yes. For example the US and the EU have different standards for food labels.
What is one aspect of a food label that might be regulated differently between countries?
100
What does GMO stand for? What is genetic engineering and how long have humans been doing it?
GMO = Genetically Modified Organism.
Genetic engineering is selectively breeding plants for desired traits.
Since the dawn of agriculture.
100
What does MSG stand for? Does MSG occur naturally?
Monosodium glutamate occurs naturally in tomatoes, cheese, mushrooms, potatoes, and many other sources. Americans eat about 40 times more naturally occurring MSG than MSG added to food products. MSG has an umami or deep savory flavor.
100
True or False: If a food product has more than 5 ingredients you should be careful because it is probably unhealthy.
False. This is a common food rule perpetuated in diet culture that at it's best is arbitrary, and at it's worst, harmful elitist nonsense.
Can you name a reason why this food rule is not true?
200
What does the Environmental Protection Agency do?
"The EPA protects people and the environment from significant health risks, sponsors and conducts research, and develops and enforces environmental regulations."
200
What food product is this a label for?
200
How many commercially available GMO crops exist in the US?
11
200
What is the chemical difference between artificial and natural flavors?
There is no difference.
200
True or False: The word "processed" has no scientific or legal definition.
True. Give an example of this.
300
What does the United States Dept of Agriculture do and why do we care?
The USDA is responsible for maintaining the food supply which means it does A LOT.
We care because we eat!
300
What standards must be met for a food product to have this label?
None. There is no regulating agency that oversees the distribution of this label.
300
What is weird about this label?
Salt has no genes to modify, so it inherently "non-GMO."
300
What is the chemical difference between table sugar and high fructose corn syrup?
Table sugar, or sucrose, is 50% glucose and 50% fructose.
HFCS is 45% glucose and 55% fructose.
How much fructose do you think is in agave syrup?
300
True or False: Our bodies metabolize natural and artificial flavors differently.
False. Our bodies cannot distinguish between natural or artificial flavors. The chemical make up of flavors occurring in nature and synthetic flavors are exactly the same, but often synthetic flavors are cheaper to produce and more sustainable.
400
Hazard + _______ = Risk
Exposure
400
Is one of these "healthier" than the other?
Nope.
400
What is the name of a GMO crop that has decreased the incidence of vitamin A deficiency in the developing world?
Golden rice.
400
Between artificial and natural food colors, which has more research behind it and undergone more safety testing?
Artificial.
Why do you think that is?
400
True or false: There are more food additives banned in the European Union than in the United States?
False. The EU has banned 9 food additives. The US has banned 15.
500
Dosis sola facit venenum.
This phrase is Latin for, "The dose makes the poison."
What does that mean?
This is the basic principle of toxicology. The full quote is credited to a Swiss chemist from the 1500s, Paracelsus, “All things are poison, and nothing is without poison; the dosage alone makes it so a thing is not a poison.”
Anything, water, oxygen, or even Britney Spears, things we need to live, can be toxic in too large (or too little) quantities.
500
Who is in charge of distributing this label? Are there specific standards that must be met to use this label? Does this label cost money to use?
The USDA highly regulates to use of this label. There are standards that must be maintained by food manufactures to continue to use it and they must pay for the USDA to perform routine inspections.
500
What's the deal with Monsanto?
Monsanto is a private company who has patented specific GMO crops they spent money and time to develop. They are known to be very litigious.
500
Can companies in the U.S. put "anything" in food products if they use the term "spice"?
No. The FDA regulates what can be added under the terms "spice" and "natural or artificial flavors."
500
True or False: GMO crops of field corn use less pesticides.
True. One genetic trait selected for when genetically engineering field corn is pest resistance. Who has heard to term "Round Up ready?"