What do formaldehyde, hydrogen peroxide, and acetaldehyde have in common? They are all chemicals that we perceive as dangerous and known carcinogens or mutagens. They are also all likely to be found in your Thanksgiving dinner. No - they are not additives, preservatives, or contaminants - rather compounds found naturally in food. It is not uncommon to hear an argument that “artificial” chemicals added to food are dangerous. However, natural vs unnatural is not a good indicator of risk, and it Read more [...]

This article was originally published on Food Product Design. Last month, I came across a blog post at Prevention magazine titled “What’s Anti-Freeze Doing in Fast Food?” [edit: original link is broken- now here as of July], based on a blog post titled “6 Cosmetic Chemicals in Fast Food.” The intent is to frighten people away from fast food by pointing out some scary sounding chemicals used in food production and preservation, like propylene glycol and sodium stearoyl lactylate that happen Read more [...]