Jamie Oliver’s Pink Slime Experiment Raises Questions

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9B7im8aQjo[/youtube]

Barfola!  Is that even a word?  It is now.  Jamie’s demonstration raises a very good question that I think we all have to answer if we want to live quality lives – is what we are eating really food?  And why would we eat it if we know it’s so bad for us?

I watched this video with my kids and they were mortified that the kids would eat the “pink slime.”   It’s not completely their fault though.  Take a look at what we have done to our food to “trick” ourselves into believing it really is edible!

When Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, researched the brains behind fast food, he discovered that it is not chefs in a kitchen creating delicious, healthy dishes.  Rather the architects behind the operation are food scientists.  At the Lamb Weston plant in American Falls, Idaho, Eric got to see the vast amount of scientific testing and chemical tweaking that french fries undergo—in order to achieve the perfect taste, texture, consistency, cooking time, and after-taste.

The scientists experimented with Eric by first having him close his eyes.  Then they asked him to identify various foods using only his sense of smell.   When the first sample was placed under his nose, Eric replied that it smelled like apples.  The next sample he thought to be french fries; the third without a doubt smelled like a hamburger.

A shocking surprise awaited Eric as he opened his eyes.  He expected to see the three different foods that he had just smelled and identified.  But that was not the case.  Standing before him was a lab coat clad scientist holding small, white pieces of paper under Eric’s nose.  On these pieces of paper were samples of the chemicals used by food scientists to make popular brands of fast food smell and taste so good.

Why do food chains care so much about aroma?

Because they know that your perception of taste is actually influenced up to 90% by what you first smell.

Food aromas are intended to trick your senses into believing that what you are eating is actually what you taste.  This is especially true of the meats sold at fast food restaurants, i.e. our “pink slime” chicken nuggets or that hamburger that smell real…but is it?

What do you think?

My daughter is doing her science fair project this semester to test if certain fast food vs. organic food is real or not.  Her project is called “Frankenfood: Is Your Food ALIVE & Can it Produce Life in the Body?”

I can’t wait to post her results soon!  Some of her food is growing mold and some is…well, let’s just say some looks the same as it did the day she bought it 3 months ago!

Want to see a few other reasons to avoid fast food that no one is telling you?   Check it out here.