What the heck are NUMBERS and what are they doing in your food? Thanks to the beautiful @jordiepieface for this post, we just had to share 😃 . Preservatives are typically used to, you guessed it, ‘preserve’ food. They help increase the shelf-life of food by delaying spoilage/ contamination and keep the colour, taste and nutrients intact. Let’s take a look at some of the most common ones BHA + BHT - keep foods from changing colour, flavour or going rancid. Rosemary Extract on food labels, which, while appearing benign, is actually a “clean-label” substitute for the antioxidant preservative, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) – antioxidants which have been found to be carcinogenic in animal studies. BHA has also been shown to interfere with healthy hormone production and may also damage enzymes in the gut. SULFUR DIOXIDE (E220) - is derived from coal tar. Often found in beer, soft drinks, dried fruit, juices, wine and potato products. If you’re asthmatic it may trigger breathing problems. It can also cause gastric irritation and skin rashes + it destroys vitamins B1 and E. SODIUM SULPHITE (E221) - often used in wine-making and dried fruits. Those who’re sulfite sensitive may experience headaches, asthma, breathing problems, and rashes. Although a product might claim it’s organic, natural, gluten free, non-GMO, or sustainable, it doesn’t mean it’s preservative free. There’s also another factor to be aware of when you read food labels. Say a food producer buys an ingredient such as glucose syrup from another company. That glucose may contain additives such as sulphur dioxide (220), but the purchasing food producer doesn’t have to acknowledge that. All they have to mention is glucose syrup on the label. FUN FACT - 100% of all preservatives are prohibited in foods for infants. Personally I’m not sure why children or adults are any different! This is why I recommend avoiding all preservatives! Cooking from scratch and sticking to whole, unprocessed foods as much as possible is the BEST way to avoid these harmful food additives. . #learning #crazy #knowwhatyoureating #youarewhatyoueat #barebybauer #preservatives https://www.instagram.com/p/CAMy1eBlLog/?igshid=6wkx1fg9pu26
