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Pandora’s Lunchbox: A (Scary) Book Review

My usual read is fiction. A good detective novel or maybe even a bit of fluff, like the unconventional Shades of Gray but nothing in the horror genre. The scariest book I have read of late was probably Twilight and that hardly qualifies. That was until I found myself engrossed in Melanie Warner’s Pandora’s Lunchbox: How Processed Food Took Over The American Meal.

pandoras-slide

A former New York Times writer, Warner literally stumbled upon the idea for her first novel. A relatively innocent investigation into the food industry’s expiration dating system left her with more questions than answers. Why did some processed foods never mold or get bugs, not months but YEARS after they had expired? If decomposition is a naturally occurring phenomenon, just what in the hell were we eating?

She deftly explains how a changing economic structure, war shortages and the natural evolution from farm to city life brought a legitimate need for longer preservation of foodstuffs and the production of such. However, the din of the cash register quickly became the bigger desire.
Chapter after horrific chapter describe how science is increasingly involved in what we are putting into our mouths. Chemists have taken over the kitchens and are no longer producing food but “food products.” With companies such as Kellogg, Heinz, Kraft and General Mills continually expanding their research and development departments, food science, as it is known, has become a much sought-after technology.
Descriptions of edible powders, meat enhancers, genetically modified bacteria, artificial this, synthetic that and a plethora of multi-syllable unpronounceable chemical names are enough to make your head spin. Food engineers now have the ability to rearrange the molecular structure of natural foods, not for the improvement of nutrition but with shelf life and marketability in mind. Even the vitamins that are used to enhance foods are manufactured versions of vitamins.
To add insult to injury, she explains that our watchdog group, the FDA, does a poor job of regulating these mad scientists. Since its inception in 1935 they have given the green light to more than 5,000 food additives—and truth in labeling? Well, that just depends on your definition of “truth’.” Dairy, grains, fruits and vegetables, nothing is sacred and nothing is what it seems. Thoroughly researched and documented, her findings leave one shaking in her boots. Stephen King’s got nothing on Ms. Warner—this is horror at its finest.
Fit Bottomed Line: Pandora’s Lunchbox is a must-read for anybody who is remotely interested in what they put in their bodies.
How concerned are you with what’s really in our foods? Do you buy—or avoid—certain brands because of it? —Karen

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