Some Things that Get My Goat!

You know what bugs me....
USDA Requires Sterilization of almonds that are packaged in the US from California and since almost all of the almonds found in the supermarkets are from there you are not getting raw almonds, even though they say on the package they are. This means that they will not sprout! So if you want to enjoy the nutrients of almonds, you will have to buy them from a foreign source like the almonds you can find in the Indian food section, however you have to assume these are not grown organically unless stated otherwise and I have yet to find any. Or you can buy them in the shell and crack them yourself then sprout them.... Just a random thought but it does irritate me.

AND...Bottled water. I am an avid drinker of bottled water (do not worry, I recycle) more recently Nestle Pure Life. Sounds pretty "pure" right? Then I read the back of the bottle and found the source... Dallas Municipal Water Supply! If I freaking wanted to drink tap water I would drink our Houston water. How misleading advertising can be!!! This coming from someone who has been in the advertising business since college. Duped. So please read the source of your bottled water before you buy it. They are not going to put that in their pretty logo you have to turn it around.

You know what else bugs me, MSG (Monosodium glutamate) which has been attributed to allergies ranging from serious to mild like sneezing (as in my little brother), does NOT have to be listed on the ingredient label of any food that contains it. Isn't that irritating!!!!! Some things you may never know have it like sausage, bacon, beef jerky, even some spices...they put the stuff in everything. One more reason not to buy prepackage foods. BUT...just when you thought it was safe the EPA approves the use of processed free glutamic acid (MSG) in sprays that are used on fruit, grains, veggies and other vegetation, like herbs! Not to mention that these items do not come with labels so we really have no way of know what has been sprayed on them, absorbed into them and bioaccumulating in our own bodies! It makes me wonder about processed free glutamic acid is even used on organic produce since it is not defined properly by the FDA. Hummm???

And since I am on the subject of MSG....

These "natural" products are showing up all over the supermarkets now a days. Great Right? Wrong! Did you know this is an advertising ploy!!!! The Food and Drug Admin has no formal definition for natural like it does for organic. It just means that it is minimally processed with no artificial flavors, colors, synthetic ingredients or chemical preservatives. Now that kind of makes you wonder about MSG, since these "natural" chickens are usually injected with "stock" as a "natural" flavor enhancer and we all know most commercially made stocks have MSG in them, wether the label says so or not! And I guess I should mention that MSG does not have to be synthetically made (although it can be) as I have mentioned above called process free glutamic acid can occur when certain enzymes and proteins are combined during the processing of the product. FDA regulations allow certain MSG containing ingredients to be included under the label descriptions; Flavor, Flavoring, Natural Flavors and Natural Flavoring with out mentioning process free glutamic acid (MSG) which would "naturally" scare consumers away. So "naturally" I am a little pissed.