We’ve all heard the advice: “Don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients” or “If you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it.” It’s a comforting rule of thumb popularized by food thinkers like Michael Pollan, designed to steer us away from ultra-processed “chemical soups” and back toward the orchard. But if we applied that same logic to nature, we would … Read more
FD&C Red No. 40 is the workhorse of the food industry, providing a vibrant, warm red-to-orange hue. Because of its high stability and low cost, it has largely replaced older red dyes like Red No. 2 and Red No. 3 in most processed foods. Quick Facts: Red No. 40 at a Glance Attribute Detail Common … Read more
FD&C Green No. 3, also known as Fast Green FCF, is a synthetic sea-green dye. While it is one of the seven primary dyes allowed for general use in the U.S., it is actually one of the least used in the industry because it is quite expensive to produce and has a very specific “minty” … Read more
FD&C Yellow No. 5, also known as Tartrazine, is a synthetic azo dye used to provide a bright, lemon-yellow color. It is one of the most widely used and recognizable food colorants in the world, often blended with other dyes to create shades of green or orange. Quick Facts: Yellow No. 5 at a Glance … Read more
It’s one of the most famous “experiments” in the viral margarine email: leave a tub of margarine in your garage, and within a few days, you’ll notice that not even a fruit fly will go near it. The claim is that because margarine is “nearly plastic” and has “no nutritional value,” nothing—not even teeny-weeny microorganisms … Read more
If you’ve spent any time on social media, you’ve likely seen the terrifying warning: “Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC!” It’s a claim designed to make you toss your tub straight into the trash. But before you swear off spreads forever, let’s talk about the actual science. While it sounds scientifically sophisticated, … Read more