Cellulose gum, natural?

My last blog had 'All Natural' labeling claims as topic and my most recent 'surprise' in the 'natural' claims, I experienced , was when I went to buy strawberry ice cream for a kids party.

I did not read the ingredients label, but just grabbed an ice cream that said 'natural' and strawberry. Later that day, I did look at the ingredients label and was very surprised to cellulose gum on the label. True, the ice cream did not claim 'all natural', only natural, but that seems pretty close to me.

Cellulose gum is not a natural ingredient, as far as I am concerned. Besides a cellulose gum, other names such as carboxy methylcellulose or CMC can be used only the label.

Why is do I think it is not natural? First of all, carboxy methylcellulose (which covers a range of molecules with different properties and functionalities) does not exist in nature. It is made from wood or cotton depending on what properties you need for the cellulose gum, which are typically not considered food either. Furthermore, it is made in a chemical process.

Cellulose gum has many functionalities in food and can be used as a thickener and stabilizer in food and beverage products, but also often provides a creamy mouth-feel. It can replace fat in products (low fat chocolate milk for example). In ice cream, it functions as a stabilizer and to prevent ice crystals to grow big and causing a gritty mouth-feel. In the group of thickeners and stabilizers that are commonly used, it is relatively inexpensive ingredient to use.


Let me know if you have any ingredients that you would like to know more about!

If you want to read more about cellulose gum, you can find information here (free registration required.

All Natural Claim on Food and Beverages Packaging

A new research has been published that looked at whether visual cues on food and beverage product labels affect the way people see and prefer products*. The visual cues on the labels were claims such as 'all natural'.

The researchers divided consumers into two groups: an experienced with nutrition group and one inexperienced group. The consumers had to look at the ingredients labels and the special statements such as 'all natural' on the label and state which products had their preference.

The research found that the visual cues, such as the all natural claim, affect the buying preference mostly in inexperienced buyers. The recommendation of the research was that the FDA should regulate the claim.

When I read this, it did not surprise me at all. And I have to admit, that claims like 'all natural' fool me once in a while too, and I would consider myself an experienced consumer. But where I wanted to get to is that when a food or beverage says that it is all natural, there is no regulation in place to define what that means. And all you can do is trust the producer, that they know what they are saying and that they are honest.

The 'all natural' thing is actually pretty complicated. As mentioned above, there is no definition within the food industry or the government about what it means. And therefore everybody can define for themselves what it exactly entails.

To me, a natural ingredient is a molecule or product that can be found in nature. But even that is a difficult definition, because sometimes it is hard to measure how a molecule exactly is in nature, because while trying to measure it might actually change the form it is in. And then some ingredients can be produced through natural processes but also by chemical ways. Examples of this are propionic or lactic acid which can be produced through fermentation with bacteria (the natural way) or by mixing various chemicals together. And that does not have to be listed on the label either.

Another way to modify ingredients is by having enzymatic reactions. Enzymatic reactions occur often in nature, but not all enzymes are naturally in the presence of certain molecules and therefore the enzymatic modification of that ingredient might not occur in nature.

Sometimes it is easier to know what is not natural, then what is natural. But in general, I would not put too much trust on claims on labels that are not regulated.

* the abstract of the research can be found here

Calcium Propionate in Buns

Yesterday,  I was running out of time and in need for 'kids and mom approved' buns for hot dogs. I just happened to be at the Target, so I thought I could pick some up there, as they have expanded their food department with fresh foods.

But breads and buns remain a difficult food to buy for a Dutch person in the USA.

In the Netherlands, supermarkets and bakeries get a lot of their breads supplied fresh daily which typically means that they are baked that same day. After a couple days, the bread gets stale and after about 5 days, if still not incredibly dry by then, fungi (molds) will be growing on it (which is a sign to go out and buy new bread and store it in the freezer next time).


So going through the bakery aisle, and grabbing buns, I was amazed by seeing a shelf life of more then 2 weeks. Typically, I look for a long shelf life in bread, because I see it as sign that the bread is  baked more recently and therefore fresher. But my definition of a long shelf life for bread is very different than how an American supermarkets or bread manufacturers define it. A long shelf life helps stores greatly in managing the supply chain and  for manufacturers to produce bread centrally and cost effectively and than ship it far away to consumers.


At first, I was hoping to find something organic, but as that was not available, I went for whole wheat. Unfortunately all the buns had various long name ingredients in it, and all had calcium propionate in it. The calcium propionate was labeled as  'to preserve freshness', which I personally read as to prevent fungi growth. 


Calcium propionate


Calcium propionate by itself is a molecule that is produced by certain bacteria (propionibacter), for example during the production of the Swiss cheese Emmenthal. It is approved for uses in food and feed and by itself not a bad molecule.  Besides that calcium propionate prevents the growth of fungi, it also helps prevent bread from going stale as the calcium is necessary to break down certain parts of starch in the bread into sugars and improves the structure of the bread (making it soft and chewy). Originally, most people would not consume huge amounts of propionic acid or calcium propionate.


Nowadays, you can find calcium propionate in many different applications, (such as the bread) and it is also used in feed of animals.


My biggest problem with these types of additives, is that they somewhat sneak into your food, mainly for manufacturing/supply chain convenience, but there is no nutritional or safety benefit for consumers. And if they work well, they are being used everywhere and before you know it, you are consuming huge amounts of things that you do not need. The way to go would be more regional/local bakery, shorter supply chains and educate consumers about storing bread in a freezer.


So did I buy the buns? Yes, I did, but so far the kids did not eat it. (I still had several buns with less additives and they turned out more then could be eaten anyway).


Will we eat them? I don't know. Because there are many more chemicals in it... but more about those some other time.

If you have any ingredients that you would like to know more about, leave a comment and it might be my next blog.

Bad eating habits

We do not go to a movie theater very often and that is mostly my fault. Just the thought that I have to sit there in the dark for almost two hours, seems like a waist of time to me. However, when I am at the theater, I usually do not mind it at all anymore (maybe a topic for another blog someday). 


So, we had been talking about taking the kids to see a child friendly movie for a long time and a little over a week ago we decided to go and see 'The smurfs'. All in all, it was an enjoyable experience, but before we went we had a little discusion about buying popcorn at the theater. 


My point of view is that going to a movie, in particular with small kids, is already a treat and eating popcorn at a movie theater just because it is available is creating bad habits. My better half's ideas were along the lines of 'We bearily ever go, so why not make it a full treat including popcorn'. 


When we came to the theater, the kids immediately asked for popcorn. My guess is that the few times they have been with friends, they always would get popcorn. Needless to say that I had won our earlier discusion, so we did not buy popcorn. The kids loved the movie anyway. 


And I was pleasently surprised that my common sense for not wanting to create bad habits, was confirmed by a recent study from the University of Southern California about bad eating habits. The researchers gave people about to enter a movie theater a bucket of either just-popped, fresh popcorn or stale, week-old popcorn. 


Moviegoers who didn’t usually eat popcorn at the movies ate much less stale popcorn than fresh popcorn. The week-old popcorn just didn’t taste as good. 


But moviegoers who indicated that they typically had popcorn at the movies ate about the same amount of popcorn whether it was fresh or stale. In other words, for those in the habit of having popcorn at the movies, it made no difference whether the popcorn tasted good or not. 


The psychology behind this is that repeatedly eating a particular food in a particular environment makes our brain associate the food with that environment and will keep us eating as long as those environmental cues are present.



If you want to read more about the study, click here

Sweet Ginger Chili Sauce by the Ginger People

This is a truly delicious sweet ginger chili sauce. It is has a great balance of sweet and spiciness and I just love how the ginger flavor comes through. It tastes like fresh ginger!

What I also like is the ingredients (see below), very simple yet very effective. The cornstarch is used to thicken the sauce. I would not have minded if they would have used xanthan gum instead of the cornstarch. Cornstarch masks flavors more than xanthan gum, but as is, it is a delicious flavorful sauces. And I like it that it has no preservatives such as benzoates or sorbates, but uses a vinegar to bring down the pH and act as a preservative.

It is great as a dipping sauce with crispy spring rolls and pot stickers, but goes also very with meats and seafood.

Ingredients: cane sugar, water, distilled white vinegar, roasted red pepper puree, dehydrated garlic, ginger puree, sweet ginger pulp, crushed chilies, cornstarch.

Trader Joe's High Fiber Fruit & Nut Multigrain Medley

One of the things I didn't eat growing  up is cereal or granola for breakfast. (Most) Dutch people eat bread in the morning. The moment to eat granola would be after dinner as a dessert added to yogurt. But of course, I have tried cereals and granola for breakfast here in the United States, but never found one that was really tasty and still reasonable healthy. Because if you find one that is tasty, after reading the sugar and fat content on the label, it makes you think that you are better off eating a bar of chocolate (although the chocolate probably does not score high for fiber content).However, cereal is convenient to have in the pantry, for when there is no bread, or as a snack (especially when you have children).

Luckily, Trader Joe's managed to make a cereal that is low in fat, low in sodium, not too sweet, high in fiber (7 grams per serving, which is more then 25% of the recommended daily intake), and best of all, very tasty. It has a great crunch. I enjoy it just as is without yogurt or milk.

The picture on the box shows a lot of cranberries, raisins and nuts (nicely staged), but there never seems to be too many of those in the box. Not that I really mind, but my daughter, always asks for more raisins. But even kids (at least mine) like this cereal. And it beats the sugar-coated, artificial-color-infused cereals that are marketed towards them.

Even when I crave a crispy cookie, this cereal can satisfy that craving too (not always..., but if there is no cookie around it definetly does) so it makes a pretty good snack.

The only thing that puzzles me a bit, is the listing of 'iron' in the ingredients lists (see below). Because, I assume, they did not add just a tiny pieces of metal to it, but some kind of iron salt, so why not list exactly what it is? The type of iron in a cereal typically is a nonheme iron, which is iron from a plant source. It has a lower absorption in the body than a heme iron, which is animal derived. However, It could be an iron oxide as they are allowed in cereal, but technically, they should be used for color coating and not for iron fortification (and this cereal does not look like a specific color is added either). Or maybe it would be something like ferrous sulfate, ferrous gluconate, ferrous lactate or ferrous carbonate. My personal preference would be something like ferrous lactate or gluconate as it is absorbed much easier by the human body (better bioavailability) then the iron oxide and therefore actually might contribute to my iron consumption. 

Ingredients: Corn Flour, Wheat Bran, Corn Bran, Evaporated Cane Juice Crystals, Raisins, Cranberries, Oat Bran, Whey, Sliced Almonds, Pecans, Whole Oat Flour, Whole Triticale Flour, Whole Brown Rice Flour, Whole Wheat Flour, Whole Ruy Flour, Whole Barley Flour, Whole Buckwheat Flour, Salt, Caramel Color, Vitamins and Iron,Vitamin C, Iron, Niacin, vitamin A, Vitamin B6, Riboblavin, Thiamin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D.

Consorzio Raspberry & Balsamic Fat-Free Dressing

The Consorzio Raspberry & Balsamic Fat-Free Dressing has been one of my favorites for many years. I even used to export it to the Netherlands, when we lived there. Besides the fact, that I like raspberries in general a lot, I think that this is just a very nice dressing.
It has a great flavor, it is fruity, sweet, tart and very flavorful. The sweet-tartness is very nicely balanced. I also like that it does not contain any fat and is very low in sodium (10 mg per serving). I mostly use it directly as a dressing on my salads without adding something else to it. Of course you can mix it with a nice olive oil, if you like to add some fat. Also my daughter of three likes it a lot too, she uses it to dip her vegetables (carrot, cucumber, tomatoes) in instead of a ranch dressing.

They also have some interesting suggestions on the label for other uses (mix in chocolate, marinate meat or fish), but to be honest I have not tried them.

Below is an overview of the ingredients. They all seemed to be pretty straight forward, with the xanthan gum used to add some thickness to the dressing, so it is not too watery. It also makes it stick a bit better to the salad pieces, making sure that the dressing is actually eaten instead of ending up at the bottom of your salad bowl.

Ingredients: Raspberry Puree, Water, Sugar, Balsamic Vinegar, Distilled Vinegar, Natural Raspberry Extract, Salt Sea, Xanthan Gum