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Every day millions of particles of food pass our mouths, hundreds of ingredients enter our meals, and just as many go unlabelled or unmentioned on the products we purchase blindly.
These anonymous ingredients can be as harmless as a preservative or a colouring, or an affront to your religion, or even an allergic reaction. But why, when entire marketing campaigns promote clear marking of ‘safe' snacks for those with nut allergies, why are not all of these risky ingredients clearly labelled? The implications of unclear labelling even extend to those who don't suffer from allergies. Strict vegetarians and vegans would certainly say so; as it stands, there is no uniform method of identifying vegan, ovo-lacto vegetarian, halal or kosher food products. While many might say that they've seen many labels before stating "kosher" or "vegan friendly", the fact remains that it is many labels and not a uniform system, and it is not enforced across the board.
When waltzing down the soup aisle, one doesn't often think of religion; those lucky few who contemplate those matters in the grocery store are few and far between. But what would a devout vegetarian Hindu say to the beef fat lurking in their clearly marked ‘Vegetable Soup' from a brand with a trademark red and white label? Or perhaps a non-vegetarian, practicing Muslim wants the classic camp treat, s'mores; is there a label indicating that the gelatin used to make those marshmallows is, indeed, gelatin from animal bones, possibly pig bones? These ingredients are listed, yet no indicator is on the packaging to say it is not safe for vegans, etc... But that means that all controversial ingredients are listed, even if not clearly, right? Wrong. GMOs (Genetically modified organisms) are not uniformly labelled. While many non-GMOs, celebrate popularity with labels shouting ‘organic' or ‘all natural', the produce genetically engineered with strains of animal DNA, or even with other plants, are not labelled. No ingredient list, no mention; some could say that they're playing god, while others might simply want to know what they're eating.
Unfortunately, many people learn their food additive lessons the hard way. One anaphylactic reaction is usually one too many, and will keep most away from those foods for the rest of their lives. But where is the uniform system which we need so desperately? How many allergies will have to be provoked unconsciously by these hidden ingredients? For the same reasons that candy bars make it their business to mark products as nut free or not, Canadians need to make it their business to look for and find these ingredients and, if not labelled, put them there themselves.
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