According to reports from ABC News there is a major uptick in food fraud.
Food fraud is known as the intentional mislabeling of products in order to hide unscrupulous and dangerous food practices. The U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) has found fake ingredients in food are up by 60 percent. Olive Oil, Lemon Juice, Milk, Honey, Tea, Spices, Coffee, and Syrup are listed as some of the higher risk foods.
There was also a lot of fake tuna and albacore being replaced with escolar an oily fish known to cause stomach issues. While this is all scary the article did offer a few tips for consumers to become more aware.
"In a bottle of olive oil if there's a dark bottle, does it have the date that it was harvested?" she said. While other products, such as honey or lemon juice, are more difficult to discern, if the price is "too good to be true" it probably is.
"$5.50, that's pretty cheap for extra virgin olive oil," Greenberg said. "And something that should raise some eyebrows for consumers."
If this is what’s in the food labeled as healthy, we can only imagine what else we’re eating in the food that isn’t considered healthy. Maybe this will be the impetus for more people to look into “clean eating.” It’s a great way to ensure you won’t be as dependent on the labeling because you’re taking control and eliminating processed food.
If you want even further direction check out my friend Feminista Jones’ “sexy shred” campaign.
