What's for lunch 11/13/13

 Homemade

Mac N’ Cheese

Barilla® Whole Grain Pasta

&

Wisconsin Cheddar

From the Farm...

Sautéed Broccoli w/ Garlic

Fresh Fruit 

The noodles we're using for the Mac n cheese are Barilla Plus. The ingredients are: Semolina, Grain and Legume Flour, Blend (Lentils, Chickpeas, Egg Whites, Spelt, Barley, Flaxseed, Oat Fiber, Oats), Durum Flour, Niacin, Iron (Ferrous Sulfate), Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid. The sauce is made from Wisconsin Cheddar. 

The broccoli and fruit are fresh. Salad bar is available.

If you like McDonalds french fries and silly putty you will be interested in the article below. 

Dimethylpolysiloxane 101 (a.k.a. Silly Putty)

Dimethylsiloxane is commonly used in vinegary-smelling silicone caulks, adhesives, and aquarium sealants, a component in silicone grease and other silicone based lubricants, as well as in defoaming agents, mold release agents, damping fluids, heat transfer fluids, polishes, cosmetics, hair conditioners AND IN OUR FOOD!

There have been no major studies conducted on the safety of dimethylsiloxane in food by the FDA or the Food Industry since it was approved in 1998, but the food industry is allowed to use it in anything they want (except milk). Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwiches, McDonalds French Fries, KFC Mash Potatoes and Biscuits, Taco Bell Cinnamon Twists, Five Guys French Fries, Dominos Bread Sticks, and on and on – the list of guilty restaurants is mind-blowing.

Dimethylsiloxane Can Contain Formaldehyde

The FDA allows dimethylsiloxane to be preserved by several different chemicals that don’t have to be listed on the label either, including formaldehyde! Formaldehyde is one of the most highly toxic substances on earth. It is linked to allergies, brain damage, cancer, and auto-immune disorders. See chart below directly from US Code Of Federal Regulation:

Dimethylsiloxane is commonly used as a filler fluid in breast implants, however this substance has started to be phased out due to safety concerns. If this substance is considered to be a hazardous ingredient when it’s placed inside our bodies, it makes you wonder, how can the FDA allow us to eat it?

American Companies Exploiting Us Once Again

When I compared the ingredient list of McDonald’s french fries in the US vs. the UK version, I was floored to witness the drastic differences. Europeans do not use dimethylsiloxane. Look closely at the ingredients in McDonald’s french fries below. Do you see how the french fries in the U.K. version are basically just potatoes, vegetable oil, a little sugar and salt? How can McDonald’s make french fries with such an uncomplicated list of ingredients all over Europe, but not over here? Why do McDonald’s french fries in the U.S. have to have an “anti-foaming” agent? Do the brits like extra foam? No, they don’t, Europe actually regulates this ingredient because they know this man-made chemical was never intended to be consumed by humans. This whole time McDonalds has known about this and chooses to continue to serve it’s US citizens silly putty.

A Secret Ingredient In Fountain Drinks

When I drank soft drinks as a teenager, I always wondered how and why fountain drinks tasted better. My friends and I would go on and on about this and say to each other “fountain drinks are the best!” and hit up the local gas station to get our fix. Thank god those days are over.

During my research, I found out that fountain drinks have a totally different formula than their bottled counterparts found on store shelves. Dimethylsiloxane is found in Diet Coke, Dr. Pepper, Sprite, Fanta and other countless fountain drinks. The food industry doesn’t want you to know about the differences either. Coca-Cola was sued for being misleading to consumers and not disclosing that Diet Coke has two different artificial sweeteners in the fountain version vs. one in the bottle version. I wonder if there will be another lawsuit regarding this ingredient!? How many people do you think actually know that silly putty is in their Sprite?

We all know drinking soft drinks is not good for us, but does Chipotle, who prides themselves as a pioneer for better quality in the food industry, know they are feeding silly putty to their consumers by serving a wide variety of fountain sodas at their establishments? Chipotle recently phase out GMOs from their restaurant food by next year, but in order to do this, are they planning to remove their Coca-Cola fountain drinks too? I am pretty sure this isn’t part of the original plan. Maybe being associated with silly putty and formaldehyde will finally give Chipotle the nudge to switch over to drinks without GMOs and chemicals. It’s crazy, that even the companies that are trying to make a difference, are still pulling these dirty secret industry tricks in our food right under our noses.

Restaurant Cheap Shortcuts

Many fast food and causal restaurants use a butter substitute product called “Phase Oil”. You may have never heard of this substance, but I can almost guarantee you have eaten it. My husband first introduced it to me, when he said his cook at his fraternity house used it to cook all of their meals. (College kids, listen up!). Needless to say it was horrifying finding this out after looking up the ingredients.